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LIBRARY 

OF   THE 

Theological   Seminary, 

PRINCETON,    N.J.  , 

^^     Br'125    .H33    1873 

Hall,  John,  1829-1898. 
sn     Questions  of  the  day 

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QUESTIONS 


OF  THE  DAY. 


BY   THE 

/ 

Rev.  JOHN  HALL,  D.D., 

PASTOr.  OP  THE  FIFTH  AVENUE  PKESBTTERIAN  CHURCH,   NEW  YORK. 
AUTHOR  OF   "papers  FOR  HOME  READING,"   ETC. 


NEW    YORK: 

DODD  &  MEAD,  762  Broadway, 
1873. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  bj' 

DODD  &  MEAD, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Libi'arian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


VVm.  McCrEA  &  Co.,   Stereotypers,  Langk,  Little   &  HiLLMAN, 

Ncwburgh,  N.  Y.  pkintkus, 

10!)  TO  114  WooSTEit  Stkebt,  N.  Y. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


ERE  this  book  of  sufficient  value  to 
warrant  a  dedication,  it  should  be 
offered  to  the  Ladies'  Bible  Class  of 
the  Church  to  which  the  writer  minis- 
ters. During  the  five  years,  from  1867  to  1872, 
the  facts  and  doctrines  of  the  Scripture  had  been 
under  examination,  with  all  the  indications  of 
well-sustained  interest,  and  with  many  happy 
evidences  of  spiritual  advantage.  During  the 
past  winter  it  was  sought  to  bring  the  principles 
of  the  Holy  Word  to  bear  on  some  of  the  ques- 
tions which,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  occupy 
attention  at  the  present  time  ;  though,  as  may 
be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  contents,  some  of 
them  are,  by  their  very  nature,  of  permanent 
and  universal  interest. 

For  these  Bible  Classes  preparation  has  been 
always  made,  not  in  the  same  way  as  for  ser- 
mons, but  usually  with  as  much  care.  The 
chapters  of  this  volume  consist  for  the  most  part 


i  V  PRE  FA  TOR  V  NO  TE. 

of  these  preparations.  The  results  not  being 
read  to  the  class,  but  stated  in  a  conversational 
manner,  no  labor  has  been  bestowed  upon  style, 
and  no  effort  has  been  made  in  the  direction  of 
"  curious  felicity"  of  expression.  Having  regard 
to  the  tastes  and  mental  habits  of  those  ad- 
dressed, the  formal  statement  of  arguments, 
implying  lines  of  reading  on  which  ladies  do  not 
usually  enter,  has  been  avoided,  and  the  results 
simply  have  been  stated. 

Not  only  from  the  experience  of  these  meet- 
ings, but  the  author's  general  observation,  he 
has  become  convinced  that  many  well-informed 
persons,  having  some  interest  in  such  topics  as 
those  here  glanced  at,  have  not  time  or  oppor- 
tunity to  give  them  lengthened  study.  As  the 
next  best  thing  to  their  own  investigation,  they 
will  accept  the  result  of  another's  honest  efforts, 
not  as  conclus  ve  to  them,  but  as  a  contribution 
towards  the  formation  of  their  own  definite  con- 
victions. 

If  the  Scriptures  be  a  perfect  religious  rule 
for  the  race,  we  can  hardly  expect  questions 
of  real  significance  to  arise  on  which  they  will 
not  cast  light.  Many  of  the  anomalous  and 
mischievous  forms  of  quasi-religion,  over  which 
some  make  merry  and  others  are  saddened, 
never  could  have  had  any  considerable  following, 
if  the  habit  of  intelligent  deference  to  the  Scrip- 


PREFA  TOR  V  NO  TE.  y 

tures  were  general.  It  is  hoped  that  nothing  in 
these  pages  is  contrary  to  the  Divine  Word  ; 
that  no  violence  is  done  to  its  principles  ;  and 
that  nothing  is  here  urged  of  which  the  effect 
would  be  to  diminish  reverence  for  the  holy  ora- 
cles. To  the  author  it  appears  that  nothing 
so  much  conduces  to  the  formation  of  just,  can- 
did, and  correct  opinion,  that  nothing  so  effect- 
ually checks  hasty,  one-sided,  and  partial  judg- 
ing, as  reverent  familiarity  with  divine  truth. 

The  writer  has  sometimes  indicated  the  more 
elaborate  works  on  the  topics  in  hand,  and  of 
which  use  has  been  made,  but  not  always.  He 
has  been  much  indebted,  in  at  least  one  chapter, 
to  the  greatest  work  of  its  kind  in  these  years, 
Dr.  Hodge's  volumes  on  Theology,  and  gladly 
makes  his  acknowledgment. 

The  living  voice  is  often  a  better  interpreter 
of  an  idea  than  the  printed  page ;  and  what  is 
made  clear  by  colloquial  repetition  in  teaching 
will  sometimes  remain  obscure  in  the  less  diffuse 
writing.  So,  no  doubt,  it  will  often  appear  in 
these  chapters  ;  but,  conscious  mainly  of  a  de- 
sire for  immediate  usefulness,  and  without  any 
eye  to  literary  repute,  the  author  yields  to  the 
judgment  of  others,  and  sends  them  forth  in 
quest  of  those  for  whom  they  are  intended  and 
adapted,  believing  that  whatever  is  worthless 
will  fall  to  the  ground,  and  that  what  is  accord- 


VI 


PRE  FA  TOR  Y  NO  TE. 


ing  to  Scripture  will  serve  in  some  degree  the 
high  object  for  which  truth  is  published.  To 
which  end  the  little  book  is  commended  to  the 
blessing  of  that  Divine  Spirit  who  guides  the 
disciples  into  all  truth,  who  sanctifies  through 
the  truth,  and  who  leads  to  true  service  through 
correct  feeling  founded  on  true  thinking. 
New  York,  May,  1873. 


CONTENTS 


I. 

Is  THE  Human  Race  One  ?     .        .        .        .7 

II. 

How  FAR  HAS  Man  fallen?         ...         19 

III. 
Should  we  Pray? 31 


IV. 
Is  OUR  Saviour  a  Creature? 


43 


V. 


Who  can  Forgive  Sins  ? 


.     55 


VI. 

How  can  God  be  known?    . 

vn. 

What  is  an  Apostolic  Church? 


70 


.      »2 


viii  CONTENTS. 

VIII. 
Is  Christianity  to  be  Modernized  ?   .         .         97 

IX. 
What  is  the  Baptism  of  Fire?      .        .         .111 

X. 

How  shall  a  Man  be  Just  with  God?      .       122 

XI. 
Has  Fear  a  place  in  Religion  ?    .         .         .135 

XII. 
How  shall  a  Man  examine  himself?         .       148 

XIII. 
What  is  Disorderly  Walking  ?      .        .        .  159 

XIV. 
What  Altar  have  we?        .        .        .         .170 

XV. 
What  is  the  Value  of  "The  Fathers?"      .   178 

XVI. 

Is  the  Sabbath  for  us  ?      .         .        .        .       192 

XVII. 
What  is  the  Use  of  the  Book  of  Reve- 
lation ? 208 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


XVI 11. 
What  shall  the  End  be?    .         .         .         .       225 

XIX. 
*'How  CAN  A   Man   be  Born  when  he   is 

Old?"     .' 239 

XX. 

What  is  the  Use  of  the  Sacraments  ?      .       254 

XXI. 

How  much   Ritual  is   there  in   the   New 

Testament?     .         .         .         ,         .         .271 

XXIL 

Why  do  not  the  Disciples  Fast?       .         .       281 

XXIII. 
Is  Spiritualism  in  the  Bible  ?        .        .        .  292 

XXIV. 
May  the  Ministry  be  Demitted?        .        .       311 

XXV. 
What  have  the  "Old  Catholics"  to  do?    .  322 


IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE? 


HY  should  we  care?  What  is  it  to 
us?  Here  we  are ;  and  we  are  to  make 
the  best  of  it.  How  will  it  affect  us 
whether  the  Creator  made  one  paren- 
tal pair  of  men  as  Adam  and  Eve,  to  be  a  com- 
mon fountain  and  stock  of  the  race,  or  made 
several  pairs — or  groups  of  pairs,  red,  white, 
black,  as  He  made,  doubtless,  the  same  kind 
of  trees  in  Europe  as  in  America  ? 

This  may  appear  plausible,  but  it  is  no  more. 
If  there  were  several  parental  stocks,  the  often- 
quoted  "  brotherhood  of  man"  is  something  dif- 
ferent from  what  It  is  on  the  theory  of  a  com- 
mon descent  from  Adam.  The  "  fall "  of  man 
must,  if  admitted,  be  explained  in  some  new 
way.  The  whole  structure  of  a  covenant  falls 
to  the  ground;  or  some  novel   expedient  must 


8  IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE? 

be  found  to  explain  how  "  in  Adam  all  die." 
Indeed,  the  Book  of  Genesis  must  be  wholly 
revised,  not  only  in  our  reading  of  it,  but  in 
its  very  substance,  and  not  only  that,  but  some 
corresponding  difficulties  will  start  up  in  the 
New  Testament.  How  shall  we  understand 
that  God  '■'■  made  of  one  blood  all  men  ?  "  And 
how  shall  we  comprehend  the  glorious  antithesis 
to  a  fallen  first-Adam,  in  the  perfect  second- 
Adam  ?  The  very  mention  of  these  aspects  of 
the  question  is  sufficient  evidence  of  its  interest 
and  importance. 

By  whom  is  the  question  discussed  ?  Scien- 
tific men,  but  by  no  means  generally  irreverent 
men.  Educated  men  who  received  and  dis- 
cussed the  inspired  history  of  man's  creation 
could  not  avoid  meeting  obvious  objections  to 
it,  founded  on  diversity  of  color,  speech,  and 
habits.  They  were  inevitably  led  to  examine 
into  the  history  of  these  divergences.  And  the 
men  of  highest  reputation  in  science,  having 
examined  these  facts,  considered  they  had  ade- 
quate solutions  to  the  difficulties  presented, 
and  held,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties,  to 
the    unity    of    the    race,    that    is    to   the   truth 


IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE?  9 

that  all  men  come  from  one  common  stock, 
such  as  the  original  pair.  Blumenbach,  who 
anticipated  Cuvier  in  making  natural  history 
dependent  on  anatom}%  whose  researches  and 
conclusions  commanded  the  respect  of  Europe, 
and  who  died  so  lately  as  1840,  is  of  this 
class.  So  is  Baron  Cuvier,  who  died  in 
1832,  and  who  reached  the  highest  scientific 
position,  not  in  one  department  only,  but  in 
many.  So  is  Dr.  Prichard,  who  died  in  1848, 
after  raising  Ethnology  to  the  rank  of  a  science, 
and  who  made  the  unity  of  the  race  one  of  his 
favorite  points.  No  book  in  the  English  tongue 
has  superseded  the  "  Physical  History  of  Man." 
So  are  Lawrence  and  Bunsen  among  its  defend- 
ers. 

Who  are  the  scientific  opponents  of  this 
view  ?  Denying  the  immediate  creative  act  of 
God,  and  holding  man  to  be  a  co-descendant 
with  other  species  of  pre-existing  forms,  Dar- 
win is  compelled  to  deny  the  unity  of  the 
species.  Indeed,  according  to  his  view,  no  spe- 
cies can  be  said  to  have  unity,  because  none  is 
fixed.  All  are  mutable,  and,  in  course  of  time, 
blending,  and  making    new   combinations.     He 


10  /S  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE? 

quotes  as  in  sympathy  with  him  (and  we  may 
presume  he  gives  us  the  strongest  names  he 
knows) — Wallace,  Huxley,  Lyell,  Vogt,  Lub- 
bock, Blichner,  Rolle,  and  Hackel.  Judging  of 
those  whom  we  do  not  know,  such  as  Blichner, 
by  those  whom  we  do,  such  as  Lubbock,  this 
array  does  not  terrify  us.  The  Duke  of  Argyle, 
Dr.  Bachman  of  Charleston,  and  M.  Flourens  of 
the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  Paris,  may  be  weighed 
against  them. 

There  are  two  important  matters  to  be  con- 
sidered before  we  allow  our  minds  to  be  seri- 
ously agitated  as  to  there  being  more  than  one 
human  species. 

I.  There  is  no  agreement  among  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  received  view  as  to  what  constitutes 
species.  Nor  need  the  diversity  surprise  any  one 
who  reflects  upon  the  manner  in  which  we  come 
to  the  idea  of  species.  (See  Whately's  Logic, 
on  "  species"  as  employed  by  naturalists.)  For 
our  purposes  it  may  be  sufficient  to  settle  in  our 
minds  that  the  "species"  dog,  as  distinguished 
from  the  species  of  the  cat,  has  many  varieties, 
or  kinds,  all  originally  one,  but  produced  by 
domestication ;   so  the    species   man  has    many 


IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE?  n 

varieties,  or  races,  as  the  Caucasian,  the  negro, 
all  one  originally,  and  produced  by  climate,  food, 
habits  and  mixed  marriages. 

2.  Those  who  have  questioned  the  unity  of 
the  race  have  commonly  fixed  their  attention 
on  the  external  features  and  appearances.  The 
size,  color,  hair,  and  aptitudes  have  been  too  ex- 
clusively studied  by  them.  They  have  carried 
their  inquiries  along  one  line  only.  They  have 
erred  as  a  child  might,  who  in  a  druggist's  store 
classified  together  all  the  drugs  that  were 
white  and  soft ;  and  who  would  be  told  that  the 
real  and  inner  nature  of  each  was  peculiar  and 
quite  different  from  the  nature  of  many  similar 
in  appearance. 

This  distinction  will  appear  as  we  proceed 
to  glance  at  the  facts  which  demonstrate  the 
oneness  of  the  race. 

The  anatomists  find  human  bodies  the 
same  everywhere.  Bone  stands  for  bone,  muscle 
for  muscle,  nerve  for  nerve,  tooth  for  tooth, 
in  the  white  man  and  the  black.  The  sur- 
geon who  learned  his  business  in  the  dissecting- 
room  of  Paris  or  Dublin,  has  no  difficulty  in  find- 
ing the  glands,  valves,  arteries,  and  tendons  of 


12  fS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE? 

his  patients  in  Calcutta,  or  Canton.  The  blood 
reaches  the  cheek  of  an  Australian  savage  or  a 
Digger-Indian  precisely  as  it  does  that  of  a  Eu- 
ropean princess.  Men  who  live  by  the  sea  are 
not  found  web-footed ;  nor  are  the  dwellers 
amid  Northern  snows  found  with  a  native  coat 
of  fur  or  wool.  We  have  many  kinds  or  varieties 
of  the  horse,  artificially  obtained,  for  drawing, 
or  swift  running,  the  object  sometimes  being 
to  get  great  size,  sometimes  to  reduce  it  to  a 
minimum  ;  but  we  find  common  characteristics 
in  all.  None  of  them  are  obviously  meant  for 
the  water,  or  for  flying,  or  for  carnivorous  diet. 
Hence,  all  naturalists  put  them  in  one  species. 
On  the  same  principle  the  anatomist  who  ex- 
amines the  bodies  of  men  must  put  them  in  the 
same  species. 

The  physiologist  finds  all  men  alike  in  his 
department.  The  beating  of  the  heart,  the  flow 
of  the  blood,  the  action  of  the  lungs,  the  diges- 
tion of  food,  the  power  of  the  nerves,  and  the 
common  features  of  life  and  death  are  the  same 
in  all  tribes  and  kindreds  of  men.  If  we  found 
men  that  were  plainly  intended  to  do  without 
air,  or  heat ;  or  men  that  subsisted  on  indiges- 


IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE?  13 

tible  substances,  or  that  had  no  facihties  for 
swallowing  water,  we  should  place  them  in 
another  species.  But  never  finding  such,  natu- 
ralists are  as  much  bound  as  in  the  case  of  other 
beings  to  place  all  the  individuals,  red,  white 
and  black,  in  the  same  species,  as  they  are  the 
pigeons,  the  dogs,  or  the  horses,  which  differ 
immensely  in  color,  form,  size,  and  other  super- 
ficial qualities. 

The  mental  philosophers  find  all  men  alike. 
The  lions  of  Daniel's  time  were  just  the  same 
as  of  ours,  with  the  same  instincts  and  principle 
of  life  ;  and  they  are  the  sanle  all  over  the 
world.  So  the  lions  go  together  as  a  species. 
So  with  all  other  creatures.  So  with  man. 
Memory,  judgment,  conscience,  joy,  sorrow, 
hope,  fear,  love,  and  hate,  have  always  been  the 
same,  and  are  everywhere  the  same  among  men. 
Education,  example,  and  other  local  and  tempo- 
rary circumstances  may  modify  expression,  but 
the  specific  identity  remains.  Shylock  reasons 
rightly  when  he  says,  "  I  am  a  Jew :  Hath  not  a 
Jew  eyes?  hath  not  a  Jew  hands,  organs,  dimen- 
sions, senses,  affections,  passions  ?  fed  with  the 
same  food,  hurt  with  the  same  weapons,  subject 


14 


IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE? 


to  the  same  diseases,  healed  by  the  same  means, 
warmed  and  cooled  by  the  same  winter  and 
summer  as  a  Christian  is  ?  If  you  prick  us,  do 
we  not  bleed?  If  you  tickle  us,  do  we  not 
laugh  ?  If  you  poison  us,  do  we  not  die  ?  And 
if  you  wrong  us,  shall  we  not  revenge?"  This 
is  common  sense  in  another  connection  :  but  the 
argument  as  put  by  Shakespeare  is  precisely 
the  same,  as  far  as  it  goes,  as  that  urged  with 
such  precision  and  conclusiveness  by  Dr.  Hodge. 
(Theology,  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  ch.  iv.) 

The  philologist,  as  far  as  he  has  the  materials 
for  forming  an  opinion,  is  carried  in  the  same 
direction.  Man  was  made  to  speak  :  he  did  not 
strike  out  the  invention  from  his  own  brain. 
And  there  is  enough  of  similarity  in  the  nature 
and  principles  of  languages  to  indicate  a  com- 
mon root ;  there  is  enough  of  diversity  to  require 
some  such  violent  splitting-up  as  the  confusion 
of  tongues  would  explain.  Max  Miiller  is  by 
no  means  an  authority  on  matters  affecting 
revelation,  but  he  may  be  heard  with  respect 
on  the  history  of  languages.  He  considers  lan- 
guage the  only  evidence  worth  noticing  in 
periods  prior  to  history;  and  we  count  it  indis- 


IS  THE  HUMAN  I? ACE  ONE?  jr 

putable  in  its  proof  that  Hindoo,  Greek,  and 
German  have  a  common  origin.  So  Bunsen 
identifies  in  blood  the  ancient  Egyptians  and 
the  Aramaic  tribes  who  speak  the  Semitic 
tongues.  So  he  argues  for  the  Asiatic  origin  of 
the  North-American  Indians ;  and  so  he  classes 
the  Germans,  Greeks,  Romans  and  Persians,  as 
of  the  family  and  original  tongue  of  Japhet. 
Equally  strong  is  the  testimony  of  Alexander 
von  Humboldt,  who  combined  the  opportunities 
of  travel  enjoyed  by  Darwin  and  Agassiz  with 
an  acuteness  and  a  reasoning  faculty  far  beyond 
theirs. 

There  is  one  other  class  of  facts,  of  which 
the  evidence  is  as  yet  unshaken  by  the  efforts 
of  the  Darwin  school.  Take  the  tribes  of  men 
that  appear  the  most  unlike,  black  and  white  ; 
take  the  Asiatic  and  European  races,  which 
some  have  tried  to  make  out  as  distinct  in 
origin  and  species.  They  can  intermarry,  and 
the  offspring  will  perpetuate  itself  indefinitely. 
But  this  is  not  the  case,  notoriously  where  .dif- 
ferent species  even  nearly  allied  are  brought 
together.  The  resulting  generation  expires,  and 
leaves  no  successor  of  its  kind.  No  such  excep- 
4 


1 6  ^S  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE? 

tion  to  this  rule  has  been  proved  as  to  put  it 
in  serious  doubt. 

The  religionist  finds  man  the  same  every- 
where. The  idea  of  wrong,  of  danger  in  the 
future,  of  God,  of  accountabihty,  is  capable  of 
being  evoked  alike  all  over  the  world.  The 
story  of  the  cross  believed,  produces  the  same 
result ;  and  the  hope  of  a  heavenly  life  has  the 
same  elevating  influence.  Without  this  belief, 
men  are  found  adopting  substantially  the  same 
shifts,  descending  by  the  same  steps,  steeped  in 
similar  delusions,  and  betrayed  into  the  same 
crimes.  The  natural  heart  is  everywhere  the 
same ;  so  is  the  renewed  nature.  The  word  of 
God  and  the  Spirit  of  God  have  the  same  adap- 
tation to  every  human  spirit,  as  the  light  of  the 
sun  to  the  human  eye,  or  cold  water  to  the 
parched  lips,  or  bread  to  the  hungry  and  faint, 
or  sympathy  to  the  sorrowful,  all  the  world  over. 

Some  of  these  lines  of  observation  are  not 
traversed  by  mere  zoologists  :  they  are  indepen- 
dent of  each  other.  If  the  conclusion  founded 
on  comparative  philology  should  seem  weak, 
that  does  not  affect  the  argument  for  compara- 
tive anatomy.     They  are  all   unneeded  by  the 


IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE?  ly 

Christian  to  whom  the  word  of  Hfe  is  the  conclu- 
sion  of  the   whole   matter.     But    to   objections 
from  the  side  of  Science,  it  is  well  to  know  that 
there  is  a  scientific  answer.     The   defender  of 
divine  truth  against  pretentious  assailants  of  the 
inspired  record  is  required   to  look    into   these 
facts,  and   to  deal  with   them  as   objections   to 
a  truth   that   is  proved  by  other  evidence    are 
dealt    with.     For    example,    few    persons    now 
doubt  that  the  inoculation  of  the  human  system 
with  the  vaccine  matter  mitigates  the  violence 
of  smallpox.      This    fact    accepted    among    us 
might  be   met — has  been  met — by  a  plausible 
reasoning.     We  stand  by  the  fact  as  proved,  and 
deal  with   the  opponents  as   objectors ;  and,  on 
appropriate  evidence,  we  should  continue  to  be- 
lieve the  fact  even  though  unable  to  reply  satis- 
factorily to  each  objection.     So  men  say,  ''  How 
could    the    diverse    races    have    begun  ? ''      We 
reply  that  we  have  no  historic  materials  on  the 
subject :  we  have  undoubted  facts  of  superficial 
diversity   and    real    unity:    the    differences  you 
see  ;  the  deeper  oneness  ive  see,  and  so  are  pro- 
tected  against  the   force  of  your  objections  in 
our  belief  that  by  one  man's  disobedience  many 


i8 


IS  THE  HUMAN  RACE  ONE? 


were  made  sinners,  because  God  made  of  one 
blood  all  men  that  dwell  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  entered  into  covenant  with  the  head 
for  all  mankind  descended  from  him  by  ordinary- 
generation. 

On  this  subject,  those  who  wish  to  read 
further  may  consult  Note  in  the  Speaker's  Com- 
mentary, vol.  i.,  p,  43  ;  Dr.  Cabell's  Unity  of 
Mankind',  Article  on  Adam,  in  Brit.  Encyclo- 
pedia ;  Keil  "".nd  De  Lelitzsch  on  the  Penta- 
teuch, vol.  i.,  p.  89  ;  and,  above  all,  for  fulness 
of  statement,  Dr.  Hodge,  as  quoted  above. 
4 


HOW   FAR   HAS   MAN   FALLEN? 


HIS  question  might  almost  have  as  an 
equivalent — How  high  was  man  at  the 
beginning  ?  He  was  not  created  a 
child,  in  body  or  mind.  The  divine 
word  surely  conveys  to  every  reader  the  idea 
that  Adam  in  the  garden  was  a  man,  that  is,  in 
body  and  mind  he  had  the  maturity  we  find  in 
an  adult.  Nor  was  he  placed  in  that  condition 
of  barbarism  or  savagism  out  of  which  races  of 
men  have  now  to  be  lifted  by  the  aid  of  their  fel- 
lows. Sir  John  Lubbock  has  indeed  produced 
an  array  of  curious  and  exceptional  items  from 
ethnological  journals  and  travellers'  note-books 
in  favor  of  this  history  of  civilization,  but  he  has 
not  shaken  the  general  conviction.  It  is  the  ex- 
ceptional character  of  his  facts  that  secured 
their  being  noticed  and  recorded,  and  they  do 


20  ffOlV  FAR  HAS  MAN  FALLEN? 

not  outweigh  the  mass  of  evidence  on  the  other 
side.  The  world-wide  tradition  of  a  "golden 
age"  that  has  passed  away  is  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  Scripture  record,  which  indeed  explains 
it,  and  of  which  it  is  the  broken  memory  hnger- 
ing  among  the  race,  Hke  the  dim  recollections  a 
man  might  be  supposed  to  have  of  a  happy 
home  from  which  he  was  stolen  in  childhood. 
From  Europe,  the  Pacific  Islands  are  now  catch- 
ing the  civilization  which  the  European  nations 
had  from  Italy,  and  Italy  from  Greece,  Greece 
from  Egypt,  and  Egypt  from  the  remoter  east, 
the  cradle  of  the  race.  Men's  tongues  testify 
to  the  same  fact.  Their  "  speech  bewrayeth" 
them. 

It  need  excite  no  surprise,  therefore,  that 
savages  are  falling  still — obeying  a  law  of  moral 
gravitation,  to  resist  and  overcome  which  some 
external  force  must  be  brought  to  bear  on  them, 
some  impulse  from  without  must  be  given  to 
start  them  on  an  upward  career. 

And  what  was  man,  as  to  God,  when  placed, 
healthy,  vigorous,  intelligent  and  mature  among 
the  comforts  and  fitting  employments  of  the 
garden  ?     The  early  fathers  did  not  always  study 


HO  W  FAR  HAS  MA N  FALLEN ?  2 1 

Hebrew,  or  they  would  hardly  have  founded, 
on  the  language  of  Genesis,  a  distinction  which 
lasted  for  ages,  that  man  had  God's  "  image"  in 
his  intellect,  and  His  "  likeness"  in  his  feelings  ; 
or,  as  we  should  express  it,  his  head  bore  the 
divine  image,  and  his  heart  the  divine  likeness. 
But  "  likeness"  and  "  image"  are  not  two  ideas, 
or  two  kinds  of  resemblance,  but  one.  Man  was 
an  "  image,"  or  a  copy,  "  like"  God  the  divine 
original. 

Wherein  was  the  image  like  the  original  ?  It 
was  very  natural  for  those  who  deny  any  moral 
fall  to  place  the  likeness  wholly  in  the  domin- 
ion over  the  creatures.  Perhaps  ordinary  Chris 
tians  have  lost  sight  of  this  dominion  too  much 
while  confining  their  attention  to  considerations 
of  innocence  and  holiness.  It  is  certainly  a  note- . 
worthy  fact  in  human  history,  that  the  doing  of 
God's  will,  on  a  large  scale,  is  attended  by  in- 
creased power  to  rule  over  and  subdue  the  earth. 
The  Bible-reading  people  have  the  greatest 
mastery  of  Nature,  wring  from  her  her  secrets, 
and  compel  her  service  in  earth,  and  air,  and  sea. 

Probably  it  is  not  in  moral  qualities  only  the 
likeness  lay.     That  they  are  included.  Scripture 


22  HOW  FAR  I/AS  MAN  FALLEN? 

puts  beyond  doubt.  There  is  no  ambiguity 
about  Col.  3  :  lo — "  And  have  put  on  {i.  e.  Chris- 
tians have)  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed  in 
knowledge  after  the  image  of  him  that  created 
him;"  nor  about  Eph.  4  :  24,  to  which  Col.  3  :  10 
is  the  key,  and  in  both  of  which  there  is  prob- 
ably allusion  to  Gen  i  :  27 — "  And  that  ye  put 
on,"  says  the  apostle,  "  the  new  man,  which  after 
God  (after  the  likeness  of  God,  ad  cxcmpbun 
Dei^  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holi- 
ness." (See  Ellicott  on  this  passage.)  The 
Westminster  divines,  and  the  latest  and  most 
scholarly  of  the  commentators,  are  one  on  this 
point.  Man  had  knowledge,  righteousness  and 
holiness — whatever  these  words  were,  as  part 
of  "  the  image  of  God,"  by  his  creation ;  he  lost 
them  somehow :  he  regains  them  by  being  "  re- 
newed," or  "  created  "  again. 

We  may  say,  then,  with  the  wisest  and  most 
valued  of  writers  and  thinkers  since  the  decay  of 
the  scholastic  theology,  or,  in  other  words,  since 
the  Reformation,  or,  in  yet  otlier  words,  since  the 
revival  of  exact  and  careful  study  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew,  that  man  was  like  God  in  nature,  being 
spiritual,    able   to   know  right  and  wrong,   free, 


HOW  FAR  HAS  MAN  FALLEN? 


23 


and  a  moral  agent  ;  like  God  in  moral  qualities^ 
righteous  and  holy ;  and  like  him  in  relative  posi- 
tion to  the  lower  creatures,  having  dominion 
over  them.  In  his  being,  he  was  like  God  as  the 
rain-drop  is  like  the  water  of  the  river ;  in  his 
character,  he  was  like  God  as  a  true  disciple  is 
like  Christ ;  in  his  position,  he  was  like  God  as  a 
viceroy  is  like  his  king. 

From  the  Scripture  we  must  certainly  gather 
that  in  all  these  particulars  the  likeness  was 
not  faint  and  remote,  but  very  decided.  "  Right- 
eousness" and  *'  holiness,"  when  grouped  to- 
gether, as  in  Eph.  4:  24,  include  all  good  quali- 
ties. The  dominion  was  more  thorough  and 
complete  probably  than  any  mere  human  expe- 
rience since  the  fall  would  suggest.  "  In  that 
he  put  all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet,  he 
left  nothing  that  is  not  put  under  him" — (Heb. 
2  :  8).  There  are  hints— not  obscure — that  the 
second  Adam  only  realizes  this  power;  and  who 
can  tell  but  the  mastery  over  air,  and  fire,  and 
sea,  and  savage  beasts,  which  appeared  as  mira- 
cles in  the  old  Testament,  and  as  ''  mighty 
works"  in  the  life  of  Christ,  are  feats  that  would 
have  been  within  the  power  of  man  had  he  re- 


24 


^OW  FAR  HAS  MAN  FALLEN? 


tained  the  image  of  his  Maker  ?  Who  can  tell 
but  they  may  be  at  once  fragments  recovered 
from  the  wreck  and  specimens  of  the  goodly  res- 
toration ? 

But  whatever  may  be  hoped  or  guessed  on 
this  point,  it  is  certain  to  us  that  man  was  a 
free  agent  like  God,  with  holy  feelings,  and  the 
lordship  of  the  world.  Angels  who  know  God, 
when  they  saw  man,  could  recognise  the  resem- 
blance. They  could  call  man  a  son  of  God. 
Could  they  do  so  now?  Could  they  have  looked 
on  Jewish  men  as  they  entered  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  as  on  Adam  in  the  garden  of  Eden, 
and  said,  "  These  are  sons  of  God?''  Must  we 
not  rather  believe  that  they  would  say  as  Christ 
did,  in  no  anger  or  exaggeration,  "Ye  are  of  your 
father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father  ye 
will  do  "  ?— (John  8  :  44). 

The  difference,  then,  between  what  Adam 
was  in  the  Garden,  and  what  man  is  now,  is  the 
Measure  of  man  s  fall.  "  But  what  specimen  of 
man  now,"  it  may  be  asked,  "  do  you  take  ? — who 
is  the  typical  fallen  man  ?  "  Clearly  we  must 
not  take  a  Christian.  He  is  in  part  renewed. 
He  is  regaining  by  God's  new-creating  grace  in 


HOW  FA  J?  HAS  MAN  FALLEN? 


25 


Christ,  some  of  what  was  lost.  Nor  can  we 
fairly  take  any  of  the  men  who  are  directly  or 
indirectly  influenced  more  or  less  by  the  ren- 
ovating means  God  has  given.  Suppose  we 
wished  a  fair  specimen  of  Chinese  intelligence, 
you  must  not  take  one  who  has  lived  a  year  in 
San  Francisco,  or  the  son  of  a  travelled  ances- 
tor, from  whom  accounts  have  come  down  to 
him,  or  the  brother  of  a  traveller  to  whom  he 
has  told  as  much  of  his  observation  as  he  could 
remember.  All  candid  men  would  say,  "  Nay, 
these  men  have  been  affected  by  a  life  outside 
their  own  :  give  us  a  man  whom  none  but  Chi- 
nese influences  have  touched."  So  we  must  do 
here.  Not  Christians,  and  not  persons  whom 
all  their  life  it  has  been  sought  to  make  Chris- 
tians, but  the  heathen,  pure  and  simple,  are  the 
specimen  men  for  the  purposes  of  our  inquiry. 

It  would  not  follow  from  what  we  have 
seen  that  all  that  made  man  an  image  of  God 
should  be  equally  lost,  or  that  all  trace  of  like- 
ness should  be  destroyed.  Break  a  mirror  into 
a  hundred  pieces ;  it  will  no  more  give  the  re- 
flection it  did,  but  each  fragment  will  reflect 
and  show  what  its  original  nature  was.     There 


26  HOW  FAR  HA S  MA N  FA LLEN ? 

is  that  in  man's  nature  which  he  could  only  lose 
by  annihilation,  such  as  a  spiritual  existence, 
power  to  think  and  judge,  and  immortality. 
But  there  is  also  that  which  by  the  very  turning 
against  God  he  must  lose,  such  as  sympathy 
with  him,  and  delight  in  his  will.  This  distinc- 
tion is  not  arbitrary,  but  rooted  in  the  nature 
of  things.  When  a  son  casts  off  a  father's  au- 
thority, he  retains  his  being,  is  still  a  man,  with 
feelings,  needs,  passions  and  powers  as  before. 
But  he  has  lost  love  for  his  father,  pleasure  in 
his  will,  sympathy  with  him.  He  is  the  same 
man,  but  oh  how  different !  the  same  son  even, 
but  oh  how  alienated  ! 

Now  look  at  the  average  heathen.  How  is 
it  with  his  knowledge  ?  This  raises  another 
question — the  nature  of  knowledge.  To  know  a 
horse,  a  triangle,  a  ship,  is  simply  an  act  of  the 
understanding — the  same  act  in  a  good  man  or 
a  bad.  To  know  a  good  picture  implies  some- 
thing more  than  that — namely,  taste  in  the 
observer.  To  know  what  a  creature  owes  to 
the  Creator  implies  more  than  both — namely, 
the  use  of  conscience.  To  know  the  Creator 
implies  the  use  of  one's  spiritual  nature.     Adam 


no  IV  FAR  HAS  MAN  FALLEN?  2/ 

knew  him,  and  Christians  know  him  ;  "  and  this 
is  Hfe  eternal  that  they  might  know  thee,  the 
only  true  God" — (John  17:  3). 

Does  the  average  heathen  know  him?  His 
unity?  He  has  lords  many.  His  spirituality? 
He  makes  his  god  of  wood  or  stone.  His  holi- 
ness? His  god  has  exaggerated  human  pas- 
sions. His  dignity  ?  His  god  is  only  a  man 
of  gigantic  and  mysterious  powers.  His  love, 
and  goodness?  He  fears  more  than  he  loves, 
and  rather  deprecates  evil  than  expects  good. 
This  general  truth  no  man  can  deny.  So  far,  man 
has  fallen.  How  is  it  as  regards  righteousness 
and  holiness?  Without  drawing  any  fine  distinc- 
tion between  the  two,  but  taking  them  as  a 
strong  description  of  goodness  of  character,  has 
the  average  savage  that  goodness  ?  To  whom 
is  he  good?  Is  he  truthful?  honest?  pure? 
Does  he  love  his  parents?  cleave  to  his  wife? 
Does  his  conscience  clearly  discover  between 
right  and  wrong?  Is  treacherous  murder  hate- 
ful to  him  ?  It  is  of  no  use  to  tell  us  of  love 
of  children,  or  tribe,  or  hunting-ground.  The 
wolf  will  defend  her  young,  and  the  tiger  resent 
intrusion  on  his  lair.     Our  question  is  not  re- 


28  HOW  FAR  HA S  MA N  FA LLEN ? 

garding  man  as  a  natural  being — shall  we  say 
as  an  animal  with  instincts  of  self-preservation? 
— but  of  man  as  a  moral  being,  feeling  once  as 
God  does.  The  difference  in  this  respect  be- 
tween Adam  in  Eden  and  the  true  savage,  is 
the  measure  of  mans  fall. 

Even  as  to  the  dominion  over  the  creatures 
the  argument  is  the  same,  yet  with  a  difference. 
A  man  may  undergo  a  greater  moral  change 
than  his  position  shows.  A  son  may  become 
thoroughly  estranged  from  his  parents,  and  rad- 
ically bad,  yet  retain  his  manners,  education, 
and  some  respect  from  society  which,  while  it  is 
let  alone,  does  not  concern  itself  much  in  do- 
mestic matters.  But  how  much  sway  over  the 
creature  has  the  true  savage?  On  a  huge  flat- 
topped  boulder  in  the  Yosemite  Valley  sat  four 
women — Digger  Indians — each  with  a  heavy 
stone  held  in  both  hands,  pounding  acorns  into 
coarse  meal  for  food.  But  even  they  had  been 
elevated  from  without.  They  wore  cotton  prints, 
and  had  huts  of  sawed  lumber  hard  by.  Yet 
were  they  coarse,  animal-like,  and,  in  the  truest 
sense,  poor — used  to  oppression  and  hardship. 
They  rule    over   nature !      Rather,  they  gather 


HO  W  FAR  HA S  MA N  FALLEN ?  29 

the  crumbs  that  fall  from  her  table.  The  differ- 
ence between  them  and  Eve  in  innocence  is  in 
this  respect  the  measure  of  man's  fall. 

What  shall  we  say  then  of  man  in  this  fallen 
condition — destitute  of  knowledge  and  love  of 
God  ?  Shall  we  say  that  man  having  lost  origi- 
nal righteousness,  now  simply  comes  into  the 
world  without  it,  and  becomes  good  or  bad  as 
he  uses  his  free  will?  That  is  to  say,  his  state 
is  nothing  one  way  or  other,  till  his  acts  show 
his  character?  No.  High  names,  from  Pelagius 
down,  may  be  quoted  for  this,  but  sound  men- 
tal science  teaches  us  that  the  kind  of  the  act 
is  determined  by  the  principle  out  of  which  it 
springs.  Our  common  sense  shows  us  that  there 
are  good  dispositions  and  bad,  where  neither 
have  opportunity  to  act ;  and  our  Bible  tells  us 
that  a  tree  can  be  good,  or  worthless  in  itself, 
prior  to  its  fruit,  and  so  they  lay  down  the  prin- 
ciple "  make  the  tree  good,  and  his  fruit  good  '' 
— (Matt.  12  :  33).  The  acorn  does  not  make 
the  oak,  but  the  oak  the  acorn.  It  may  be  it  is 
humiliating,  but  it  is  logical  and  true,  that  men 
are  flesh  being  born  of  the  flesh ;  that  they  are, 
until  renewed,  children  of  wrath.     We  have  to 


30 


HOW  FAR  HAS  MAN  FALLEN? 


own  it — must  confess  it  before  God — much  as  it 
shocks  RationaHsts,  that  we  are  conceived  in 
sin.  On  this  point,  though  not  with  equal  con- 
sistency, Lutheran  and  Reformed,  Protestant, 
CathoHc  and  Greek  Church  are  one.  David  did 
not  cahimniate  his  kind,  when  he  wrote : 

"  God  looked  down  from  heaven  upon  the 
children  of  men,  to  see  if  there  were  any  that 
did  understand,  that  did  seek  God.  Every  one 
of  them  is  gone  back ;  they  are  altogether  be- 
come filthy:  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no 
not  one." — Psalm,  53  :  2,  3. 


SHOULD   WE   PRAY? 


OT  on  the  theory  of  Pantheism.  If  the 
universe  be  God,  I  cannot  well  say 
"  O  Thou.''  I  cannot  well  begin  to 
frame  a  petition  to  the  "  sum  of  things." 
Besides,  I  am  part  of  it,  a  small  part  indeed,  but 
still  a  part ;  and  it  is  useless  to  pray  to  myself. 
A  prayer  from  a  pantheist,  however  worded,  can- 
not be  much  more  than  a  poetical  address  to  the 
outside  world,  like  William  Tell's  "  Ye  crags  and 
peaks,  I'm  with  you  once  again,"  which  may  re- 
lieve excited  feeling,  but  is  not  supposed,  or  ex- 
pected, to  influence  the  "crags  and  peaks." 

Nor  on  the  theory  of  atheism  :  No    God- 
no  prayer.     And  the  converse  of  this  statement 
might  be  generally  maintained  :  No  prayer — no 
God.     A  man  who  has  no  sorrow  for  sin  to  ut- 
ter, no  thankfulness  for  mercies  to  express,  no 


32  SHOULD   WE  PRAY? 

communication  to  make  to  the  Lord,  is  as  truly 
without  a  God  as  the  Australian  savages  were 
without  gold,  when  it  was  lying  around  them 
and  underneath  their  feet,  but  they  did  not 
know  of  it. 

Not  if  God  be  simply  law,  or  force,  or  the 
sum  of  law  and  force.  No  human  creature  ever 
prayed  to  a  law  or  a  force.  No  sane  man  ever 
begged  gravitation  to  let  him  down  easily,  or 
implored  force  to  help  his  brain  through  a  hard 
problem.  Men  feel  as  naturally  that  force  and 
law  are  impersonal,  heartless,  and  immovable, 
as  they  feel  that  their  children  are  to  be  loved, 
or  their  own  bodies  preserved. 

Men  easily  bewilder  themselves  by  a  phrase, 
such  as  "  the  reign  of  law,''  as  if  Law  were  a  sort 
of  supreme  arbiter  like  the  heathen  ''  fate"  which 
controlled  the  gods  no  less  than  men,  and  which 
all  beings  must  obey,  God,  so  called,  being  only 
a  steward  or  general  manager  of  the  universe 
under  this  all-governing  "law."  True,  our  loose 
talkers  would  hardly  put  their  thought  into 
words  like  these  ;  but  it  is  no  thought,  if  it  be 
not  just  this.  Take  our  own  city.  We  have,  I 
presume,  admirable    laws.       I     know     nothing 


SHOULD   WE  PRAY? 


33 


against  them.  Then  why  does  not  everything 
go  well  ?  why  does  not  law  take  care  of  us  ?  why 
did  we  live  among  so  much  turmoil  all  the  last 
autumn?  Because,  good  as  the  laws  were, 
we  were  in  sad  need  of  persons  to  see  them  en- 
forced. The  laws  are  so  much  writing — on  so 
much  foolscap  or  parchment,  lying  in  pigeon- 
holes and  official  books-^of  no  account  to  us  but 
as  jurymen,  lawyers  and  judges  execute  them. 
There  is  no  law  in  the  universe,  but  the  mind  of 
a  personal  God.  He  has  made  arrangements, 
and  settled  orders  of  things  ;  but  He  did  not,  like 
the  mythical  Lycurgus  of  Sparta,  quit  the  uni- 
verse that  the  laws  might  be  eternal.  He  stays 
with  His  world,  is  in  it,  fills  it,  and  the  Per- 
sonal God  is  our  "judge,  law-giver  and  king, 
and  will  save  us''— (Isaiah  33:  22),  When  our 
friends  overwhelm  us  with  their  high-sounding 
talk  about  the  "  reign  of  law,"  it  is  usually 
enough  to  ask — Is  the  Creator  a  subject? 
''  There  is  no  such  reign  of  law,"  says  Hodge, 
"  as  makes  God  a  subject." 

But  if  God  be  outside,  and  prior  to,  the  world, 
independent  of  it,  controlling  it  all ;  and  if  He  be 
good  and  gracious,  then  He  can  so  order  it  that 


34 


SHO  ULD   WE  PRA  Y? 


His  thinking  creatures  can  apply  to  Him,  and  He 
can  comply  with  their  requests.  He  can  so  ar- 
range the  world  that  it  shall  be  a  part  of  His 
.government  of  it  that  His  people  cry  unto  Him 
and  He  hears  them.  The  philosophers  indeed 
could  not  so  arrange  it,  because  they  work  in 
an  extremely  limited  sphere.  But  He  works 
through  all  time,  and  all  the  universe.  Because 
tJiey  could  not  do  it,  they  conclude  too  hastily 
that  He  cannot. 

All  this  argument  has  to  do  with  the  Hearer 
of  prayer.  In  the  Old  Testament  formal  state- 
ment of  the  distinction  of  persons  in  the  Godhead 
had  not  been  given,  and  accordingly  Jehovah,  God 
as  God,  is  addressed.  In  the  New  Testament, 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  are 
unfolded  to  men  as  subsisting  in  the  ever-blessed 
Trinity,  and  are  approached  with  prayer  and 
praise.  To  Christ  on  earth,  and  in  heaven,  such 
prayers  are  found  in  the  New  Testament  as  only 
God  can  answer  The  Christian  Doxology  is 
the  recognition,  like  the  apostolic  benediction 
and  the  baptismal  formula,  of  the  Deity  of 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

We  do  not  pray  to  any  other  for  two  reasons, 


SHOULD   WE  PRAY?  35 

the  first  of  which  is  sufficient  by  itself.  We  have 
no  Scripture  direction  so  to  do  ;  and  we  have 
abundant  exhortation  to  the  contrary.  It  would 
be  as  easy  to  make  the  Bible  teach  the  existence 
of  twelve  or  a  hundred  gods,  as  to  make  it  teach 
praying  to  angels  or  departed  saints. 

The  second  is  that  we  have  no  evidence  of 
creatures'  ability  to  hear,  or  to  help.  The  mo- 
ment I  say — "  O  angel  of  God,  to  whose  holy 
care  I  am  committed,"  as  in  Roman  Catholic 
books  of  devotion,*  I  invest  the  angel  with  at- 
tributes which  God  declares  His  only.  The 
same  applies  to  all  supplication  to  departed 
saints. 

The  matter  of  prayer  is  in  all  the  feelings  of 
a  truly  devout  soul,  believing  God's  word.  Here 
are  His  laws,  broken  by  us.  Let  us  tell  Him  our 
regret  and  sorrow  for  breaking  them.  That  is 
the  confession  of  sin.  Here  are  His  gifts  en- 
joyed by  us,  and  traceable  to  His  goodness  and 
love.  Let  us  tell  Him.  That  is  the  thanks^ 
giving  of  prayer.  Here  are  our  wants,  God 
can  supply  them.  Let  us  ask  Him,  as  He  has 
ordained  asking  as  the  way  of  receiving  the  sup- 

*  "  The  Path  to  Paradise,"  fpr  example. 


36  SHOULD   WE  PRAY? 

ply.  That  is  petition.  Here  are  our  brethren 
of  the  Church,  or  the  wider  circle  of  our  breth- 
ren of  mankind,  with  wants  and  sins.  Let  us 
speak  to  God  for  them.  That  is  the  interces- 
sion of  prayer — a  most  important  and  dignified 
part  of  it,  in  which  we  are  like  the  Lord  Jesus, 
the  great  Litercessor. 

Such  exercises  of  soul  imply  belief  or  faith  in 
God  ;  no  man  would  so  speak  to  a  nonentity. 
And  if  we  believe  in  such  a  God  as  the  hearer 
of  prayer,  we  shall  be  lowly  and  humble  and 
reverent  before  Him.  So  if  we  accept  His 
view  of  ourselves  and  of  Him,  while  praying, 
as  enjoined  by  Christ,  with  earnest  importunity, 
and  continuously,  we  shall  pray  submissively  :  our 
demand  will  not  be  imperative,  as  though  we  had 
Him  under  authority  and  could  say,  "Do  this, 
and  he  doeth  it,"  but  submissive,  as  a  good  child 
before  a  good  father.  We  shall  say,  "  Thy  will 
be  done.''  This  is  the  perfection  of  trust ;  such 
confidence  in  God  is  befitting  in  us,  and  greatly 
honors  Him. 

It  would  not  be  an  answer  to  the  question 
with  which  we  set  put  to  urge  the  use  of  this 
precious  means  of  grace  in  the  closet,  the  family, 


SHOULD   WE  PRAY? 


37 


and  in  social  worship,  and  to  take  no  note  of  ob- 
jections, not  yet  alluded  to,  to  the  entire  exer- 
cise. 

It  is  objected  that  it  belittles  God  to  suppose 
He  will  attend  to  our  small  affairs.  Well,  He 
surely  knows  what  is  becoming  for  Him  to  do. 
To  tell  Him  what  is  becoming,  and  what  not,  is 
an  insult.  If  He  marks  the  sparrows,  and  the 
ravens,  and  the  young  lions,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  Pharaohs  and  Caesars,  who  am  I  that 
I  should  find  fault?  But  He  says  He  does. 
Were  /  to  charge  myself  with  finding  all  the  city 
sparrows  during  a  time  of  snow,  it  would  take 
all  my  time,  and  my  presbytery  or  congregation 
might  remind  me  that  I  had  the  people  to  feed, 
and  I  could  not  do  both.  But,  suppose  I  were 
so  constituted  that,  without  impairing  my  pas- 
toral usefulness,  I  could  see  that  every  sparrow 
had  his  rations  regularly,  he  would  be  a  cavilling 
fool  who  would  pronounce  it  undignified.  But 
the  infinite  power  of  God  attends  to  the  greatest 
things,  and  is  equally  free  to  attend  to  what 
insolent  and  unwise  men  call  the  little.  Their 
great  difficulty  is  indeed  just  here,  that  they 
cannot  think  of  God  otherwise  than  as  like  them- 


38  SHOULD   WE  PRAY? 

selves,  and  they  insist  on  judging  Him  by  their 
standard. 

But  it  is  objected  that  all  is  fore-ordained, 
and  if  I  am  to  get  good  I  shall  get  it,  whether  I 
pray  or  not.  This,  if  it  prove  anything,  proves 
too  much.  It  would  apply  to  working,  watch- 
ing, sick-nursing,  taking  medicine,  and,  in  things 
spiritual,  to  believing.  He  ordains  effects.  They 
speak  as  if  that  were  all.  But  they  are  not 
everything.  Causes  are  included  in  "  every- 
thing.'' He  ordains  working  as  the  means  of 
eating.  He  ordains  believing  as  the  means  of 
pardon  and  acceptance.  He  could  have  saved 
us  doubtless  in  other  ways  and  without  it,  tak- 
ing us  all  to  heaven,  as  we  believe  He  takes  the 
infants,  but  there  are  adequate  wise  reasons  for 
making  faith  the  means  of  salvation.  And  so 
there  are  for  making  prayer  the  means  of  receiv- 
ing blessings  from  God. 

It  has  been  lately  proposed  to  submit  prayer 
to  a  scientific  test,  by  having  one-half  of  the 
patients  in  a  hospital  prayed  for,  and  the  other 
not.  This  is  the  climax  of  folly,  the  very  per- 
fection of  the  ridiculous.  It  implies  the  absolute 
equality  of  all  physical  conditions  among  the  two 


SHO  ULD   WE  PR  A  Y? 


39 


sets  of  patients.  It  implies  the  absolute  suspen- 
sion of  all  prayer  for  the  one  set.  Imagine  a 
caution  posted  round  the  world  against  inclu- 
ding in  any  petition  or  intercession  the  half  of 
the  patients  in  the  Scientific  Hospital,  in  beds 
numbered  from  one  to  one  hundred !  For  with- 
out this,  the  experiment  is  valueless. 

It  implies  that  science  can  test  everything. 
But  it  cannot,  and  does  not.  Imagine  a  scientific 
experiment  to  try  if  a  man's  wife  or  daughter 
loves  him  !  There  are  hundreds  of  points  we 
settle  by  quite  other  tests. 

It  implies  an  insult  to  all  Christendom  :  "  You 
and  your  fathers  say  that  you  know  of  your  own 
knowledge  that  God  hears  prayer.  Very  sorry  ; 
but  I  do  not  believe  you,  and  will  not,  till  you 
have  satisfied  my  condition."     That  is  its  basis. 

It  implies  an  insult  to  God  :  "  Thou  sayest 
thou  hearest  prayer,  but  I  do  not  believe  thee, 
and  will  not,  until  thou  hast  proved  it  by  this 
thoroughly  scientific  test."  That  is  its  basis  to- 
ward God. 

It  is  an  insult  to  the  common  sense  of  man- 
kind. I  do  not  wonder  at  a  newspaper — and  in 
Boston    too — describing   it   as   paralleled   by   a 


40 


SHOULD    WE  PRAY? 


Southern  minister  who  was  persuaded  to  invest 
his  savings  in  the  half  of  a  negro  who  rejoiced 
in  the  name  of  Pompey;  and  who  used  to  pray 
for  himself,  his  household  and  his  "  half  of  Pom- 
pey.'''' No  minister,  or  man  of  any  condition,  was 
so  absurd  as  to  pray  thus :  but  if  he  did,  his 
is  no  more  ridiculous  than  the  proposal  of  Mr. 
Tyndal's  friend,  and  which  Mr.  Tyndal  indorsed. 

Finally,  the  proposal  showed  practical  igno- 
rance of  one  essential  element  of  prayer  :  belief 
in  God.  It  proposes  to  try  if  God  is  credible. 
"  Come  down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe 
thee" — (Matt.  27:  42).  No:  for  enough  appro- 
priate evidence  of  Christ's  credibility  had  been 
given.  The  proposal  was  an  insult  and  a  mock- 
ery. And  it  is  no  less  so  to  go  to  the  Lord 
with,  "  Restore  this  set  of  patients  and  we  shall 
believe  thee."  He  is  to  be  believed  on  other, 
appropriate,  and  abundant  evidence — (i  John 
5:   14). 

To  render  easy  the  conception  of  divine 
providence,  as  including  prayer,  and  the  divine 
government  being  undisturbed  thereby,  a  little 
parable  may  be  pardoned.  Others  than  the 
children  for  whom  it  was  written  may  see  thQ 


SHOULD    WE  PRAY? 


41 


point  of  it :  it  is  no  fault  of  ours  if  the  con- 
troversy have  to  many  a  generally  childish  as- 
pect. 

Suppose  that,  by  lurking  around  one's  house, 
noting  the  times  when  the  smell  of  cookery 
is  perceived,  interviewing  the  butcher's  boy, 
and  listening  for  the  sound  of  the  dinner-bell, 
and  then,  comparing  notes,  a  few  persons  be- 
come satisfied  as  to  the  meal-hours.  They  find 
they  have  not  varied  ever  since  they  instituted 
their  watch.  They  conclude  there  is  a  uniform 
law  for  meals  in  the  house. 

As  they  wait  around,  a  gentleman  comes  to 
the  street  and  inquires  for  the  house.  They 
ask,  Is  he  going  there  ?  Has  he  dined  ?  No. 
Then  he  had  better  go  round  the  corner,  and 
get  a  lunch,  for  he  will  get  no  dinner.  Dinner- 
hour  is  past — they  know  the  law  of  the  house. 
"  Ah  !  it  is  my  brother's  house.  He  knows  I 
am  coming,  and  the  dinner  will  be  delayed  for 
me.''  "  No,  it  cannot  be ;  we  know  the  law." 
"  But  any  law  on  the  subject  was  made  by 
my  brother.  He  is  head — not  the  cook,  and  he 
has  only  to  speak  and  it  is  done.  His  cook  will 
have  directions  for  my  case,  and  I  shall  get  my 


42 


SHOULD   WE  PRAY? 


dinner.''  "  But  don't  you  see  the  disorder  into 
which  it  will  throw  the  house  if  you  come  to- 
day and  get  a  change  for  your  convenience  ? 
An  uncle  may  come  to-morrow,  and  a  cousin 
the  day  after,  and  an  aunt  the  next  day,  and 
the  whole  house  go  to  confusion."  "  Oh  !  never 
fear,''  he  says  as  he  rings  the  door-bell;  "my 
brother  is  a  man  of  good  common  sense,  and 
knows  how  to  manage  his  house." 


IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A  CREATURE? 


UR  question  mainly  contemplates  His 
nature.  Was  He  human  only,  or  divine 
and  human  ?  Or,  varying  the  question 
somewhat,  was  He  a  creature  or  not  ? 
For,  plainly,  many  important  statements  of 
Scripture  must  be  modified  by  our  reply.  If 
we  allege  Him  to  be  divine,  certain  texts  and 
events  that  look  in  another  direction  must  be 
explained  ;  and  the  fact  of  His  possessing  two  na- 
tures is  a  sufficient  explanation.  He  hungered, 
thirsted,  wept,  groaned,  feared,  because  He  was 
partaker  of  our  humanity — (Heb.  2  :  14).  He 
died,  as  a  part  of  that  plan  to  work  out  which 
He  took  on  Him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  of 
which  the  effect  is  to  "  destroy  Him  that  had  the 
power  of  death."  There  is  not  a  difficult  text 
on  the  subject  of  our  Lord's  person,  or  experi- 


44 


IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE? 


ence,  or  words,  or  works,  that  does  not  admit 
of  explanation  on  this  principle— explanation  at 
least  as  obvious  as  we  can  give  for  many  of  the 
mysteries  of  our  own  less  complex  being. 

But  if  we  assume  that  Christ  is  only  a  crea- 
ture, we  have  left  to  us  a  large  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture that  admits  of  no  satisfactory  explanation  : 
that  is,  no  explanation  consistent  with  the  au- 
thority of  Scripture.  The  consequence  is  that 
a  denial  of  Christ's  Divinity  is  always  followed  at 
no  great  distance  by  a  denial  of  the  equal  au- 
thority of  all  revelation.  The  Bible  becomes  a 
mixed  composition,  part  a  genuine  inspiration  of 
God,  part  the  sincere,  earnest  thought  of  men. 
The  Old  Testament  contains  much  that  is  re- 
mote, supernatural,  and  unlike  present  human 
experiences  ;  and  much  of  it  is  set  down  to  the 
devout  religious  sentiment  that  loves  the  legen- 
dary. The  New  Testament  abounds  in  doctri- 
nal statements,  and  technical  defences  of  doc- 
trine which  are  called  Pauline,  or  Petrine,  or 
Johannean,  and  philosophically  described  as  rep- 
resenting the  particular  human  conception  of 
certain  matters  by  these  excellent  men.  In  vain 
you    quote     John    or   Peter,    in    affirmation    of 


IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE?  45 

Christ's  diginty  and  claims.  The  reply  is  suffi- 
ciently easy:  "Yes,  that  is  the  individual 
idea  of  Peter  or  John,  and  possibly  of  many 
others  at  that  time ;  it  does  not  follow  it 
should  be  mine."  But,  unfortunately,  the  facility 
of  reply  is  bought  by  the  surrender  of  Revela- 
tion. 

Thus  it  has  happened  that  Christ's  divinity 
of  nature,  and  the  divine  origin  and  authority 
of  Scripture,  stand  or  fall  together.  They  who 
degrade  the  Incarnate  Word  are  compelled,  in 
part,  by  the  exigencies  of  their  position,  and,  in 
part,  by  the  habit  of  mind  that  rejects  the 
supernatural  in  one  commanding  department, 
to  reject  it  in  another,  and  to  lower  the  author- 
ity of  the  written  word.  So  Socinianism  and 
Rationalism  readily  affiliate.  When  Jesus  is 
placed  among  human  heroes,  inspiration  is 
placed  with  genius,  and  Isaiah  and  Shakespeare, 
John  the  Divine  and  John  Milton,  are  set  on 
the  same  level. 

The  usual  method  of  dealing  with  our  ques- 
tion is  to  show  the  names,  titles,  attributes, 
words  and  works  that  identify  God,  and  then 
to    prove    by  the    collation    of    passages    that 


46  IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE? 

the  same  names,  titles,  attributes,  words  and 
works  are  ascribed  to  Jesus  Christ.  When  the 
Trinity  is  under  review  the  argument  is  ex- 
tended to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  it  is  shown  that 
this  method  of  description  stops  there,  and  is 
never  employed  in  reference  to  any  other  be- 
ing, however  dignified  or  exalted.  This  is,  in 
substance,  the  method  of  Dwight,  Hill,  and 
Hodge,  as  it  is  of  Calvin,  and  the  other  earlier 
theologians.  It  is  complete  and  satisfactory. 
It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  any  divine  per- 
son is  described  in  Scripture  if  Jesus  be  not  a 
divine  person.  There  is  no  proof  of  the  di- 
vinity of  the  Father,  if  there  be  not  proof  of 
the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God.  If  a  man 
wants  to  have  God  and  the  Bible  on  the  side 
of  a  position  he  has  adopted,  he  can  make 
many  a  plausible  argument ;  but  if  a  man  de- 
sires his  position  to  be  with  God  and  the  Bi- 
ble, it  is  difficult  to  see  how  he  can  resist  this 
evidence. 

This  method  should  not  be  neglected  by  any 
one  who  would  give  a  careful  study  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  in  varying  its  statement  in  some  de- 
gree, we  neither   ignore  it  nor   undervalue   it. 


IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE?  47 

We  propose  to  look  at  the  difficulties  of  any 
theory  that  makes  Christ  a  creature. 

I.  And,  first,  it  is  hard  to  think  of  Christ 
as  a  great  and  effective  teacher,  if  He  be  not 
Divine.  There  are  two  requisites  of  a  thorough 
teacher  :  that  he  knows  truth  ;  that  he  is  suc- 
cessful in  imparting  it.  We  judge  of  him  by 
his  pupils.  If  he  has  put  them  in  possession  of 
exact  knowledge,  and  made  them  know  the 
truth  of  things,  we  applaud  him.  If  he  has 
failed  to  do  this,  and  sends  forth  his  scholars 
with  ideas  the  very  opposite  of  the  truth,  we 
cannot  rate  him  highly. 

Now  it  is  very  clear  that  the  disciples  of 
Christ  in  the  end  took  up  notions  of  Him  that 
are  not  consistent  with  His  being  a  creature. 
These  notions  they  propagated,  and,  rightly  or 
wrongly,  most  Christians  have  accepted  them, 
and  been  willing  to  die  for  them.  A  teacher  of 
mathematics,  most  of  whose  pupils  were  radi- 
cally astray  on  elementary  matters,  would  soon 
cease  to  have  pupils ;  a  teacher  of  morals,  most 
of  whose  disciples  held  and  acted  on  principles 
diametrically  opposed  to  his,  would  soon  be 
suspected ;    but   the    fact   would   be   still  more 


48  ^S  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE? 

startling  if  in  both  cases  it  was  claimed  that  the 
identical  lessons  of  the  instructors  were  being 
followed. 

Now,  the  opponents  of  ovir  Lord's  true 
Deity,  as  a  rule,  insist  strongly  on  His  preemi- 
nent merit  as  a  teacher.  This  is  the  staple  of 
what  they  have  to  say  regarding  Him;  and 
needing  to  say  something,  and  rejecting  the  or- 
thodox position,  they  expatiate  on  this  theme 
with  remarkable  persistency.  But  does  it  not 
occur  to  them  that  on  their  theory  they  require 
to  prove  His  excellence  as  a  teacher.  If  fruits 
be  any  test,  what  are  we  to  think  of  a  teacher 
of  divinity  who,  in  point  of  fact,  misleads  men 
— the  men  who  come  nearest  him,  and  know  him 
the  most — on  a  vital  point  ?  God  only  is  to  be 
worshipped,  and  they  worship  Christ.  God  only 
hears  prayer,  and  they  pray  to  Christ.  God  only 
is  to  be  gloried  in,  and  they  glory  in  Christ.  God 
only  is  the  life  and  light  of  Heaven,  and  Christ 
becomes  all  that  to  them,  so  that  to  be  present 
with  Him  is  perfect  bliss,  and  to  depart  from 
Him  is  unutterable  woe. 

Nor  can  they  be  excused  on  the  ground 
of  exceptional   stupidity,  for   the   most   intelli- 


/S  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE? 


49 


gent  of  His  hearers  understood  Him  in  the 
same  sense.  They  called  Him  a  blasphemer, 
and  carried  through  a  legal  process  against  Him 
on  this  ground,  that  He  made  Himself  God — 
(John  lo :  31-33) — "Then  the  Jews  took  up 
stones  again  to  stone  Him.  Jesus  answered 
them,  '  Many  good  works  have  I  shewed  you 
from  my  Father ;  for  which  of  those  works 
do  ye  stone  me?'  The  Jews  answered  Him, 
saying,  '  For  a  good  work  we  stone  thee  not  ; 
but  for  blasphemy  ;  and  because  that  thou,  be- 
ing a  man,  makest  thyself  God.'  "  Now  how 
easy  it  would  have  been  to  say:  "You  entirely 
mistake  me,"  and  to  set  them  right  by  a  dis- 
claimer !  But  no ;  He  defends  the  position 
—(John  10:  34-38) — "Jesus  answered  them, 
'  Is  it  not  written  in  your  law,  I  said,  Ye  are 
gods  ?  If  he  called  them'gods,  unto  whom  the 
word  of  God  came,  and  the  Scripture  cannot 
be  broken  ;  say  ye  of  him  whom  the  Father 
hath  sanctified,  and  sent  into  the  world.  Thou 
blasphemest ;  because  I  said,  I  am  the  Son  of 
God  ?  If  I  do  not  the  works  of  my  Father,  be- 
lieve me  not.  But  if  I  do,  though  ye  believe 
not  me,  believe  the  works  ;  that  ye  may  know, 
4 


50  IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE? 

and  believe,  that  the  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  in 
him.'  "  One  of  the  first  elements  in  teaching, 
is  lucidity.  Here  is  a  gross  misunderstanding 
of  the  teacher's  language,  according  to  the 
Socinian  theory.  His  attention  is  called  to  it 
in  a  very  impressive  manner.  He  defends  and 
explains  his  ground.  But  so  far  is  He  from 
correcting  the  misapprehension  in  His  hearers' 
minds  that  they  sought  again  to  take  Him. 
Surely,  they  who  assert  their  Christian  charactej 
by  harping  on  the  one  string  of  the  Saviour's 
worth  as  a  teacher,  while  rejecting  His  divinity, 
and  denying  His  atonement,  ought  to  lay  out  a 
little  strength  in  showing  how  such  total,  life- 
long failure  to  convey  a  true  impression  is  com- 
patible with  unprecedented  didactic  excellence. 
It  is  hard  to  comprehend  the  example  set  by 
Christ  on  the  theory  fliat  He  is  a  creature.  By 
common  consent  humility  is  becoming  in  the 
creature,  and  self-consciousness  and  egotism  are 
universally  reprobated.  Even  Christ  Himself 
magnified  these  virtues,  and  claimed  them  for 
Himself.  But,  on  the  other  hand.  He  is  con- 
stantly magnifying  Himself,  lifting  up  Himself. 
Egotism  is  the  frequent  use  of  "  I,"  ego.     How 


IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE? 


51 


constantly  He  employs  it !  "  Before  Abraham 
was,  I  am  ;  "  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth  and  the 
life  ; ''  "I  am  the  good  shepherd  ;  "  "I  will 
draw  all  men  unto  me ; "  "I  am  the  resurrec- 
tion and  the  life  ;  "  "I  and  my  Father  are  one." 
When  a  proud  Premier  said,  "  Ego  ct  rex  incus''' 
("  I  and  my  king''),  the  egotism  was  so  notice- 
able as  to  warrant  a  proverb.  But  the  line  that 
lies  between  a  great  minister  and  the  king  he 
serves  is  nothing  to  that  chasm  that  must  ever 
yawn  between  Creator  and  creature.  Yet  this 
Jesus  ignores  that  chasm,  and  in  His  claims, 
again  and  again  asserted,  "  sits  down  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  throne."  Is  this  an  example 
for  creatures  to  imitate  ?  But  the  excellence  of 
His  example  is  being  continually  enforced  by 
those  who  must  say  something  about  His  sav- 
ing work  and  who  deny  atonement.  Surely 
they  have  something  yet  to  do  in  reconciling  all 
this  exaltation  of  self — a  created  self — in  pres- 
ence of  the  Creator,  and  all  this  attempt  to 
draw  men  to  Him  with  the  modesty  becom- 
ing a  creature.  Think  of  a  creature  saying, 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest !  ''     But  it 


52  IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A   CREATURE? 

may  be  alleged,  we  misconceive  the  meaning  of 
those  words,  that  He  did  not  mean  to  convey- 
any  such  impression.  Then  we  may  go  back 
and  demand  the  evidence  of  His  peculiar  ex- 
cellence as  a  teacher.  But  that  He  did  mean  all 
this,  appears  to  be  proved  by  the  effect.  His 
self-seeking  is  a  success.  His  disciples  follow 
Him,  love  Him,  lean  on  Him,  believe  Him, 
worship  Him,  glory  in  Him.  They  preach 
Him.  They  know  nothing  else  save  Him, 
They  go  through  the  world,  found  a  society 
of  which  He  is  foundation,  centre,  crown,  life, 
power,  and  whose  members  sing  hymns  to 
Christ  as  to  a  God. 

It  is  no  reply  to  say  that  he  had  a  commis- 
sion to  do  this.  Others  had  a  commission  as 
teachers  and  examples, — such  as  Abraham,  Mo- 
ses, David,  Isaiah  and  the  Baptist, — but  they  as- 
sume no  such  tone.  But  when  Jesus  comes  to 
speak  of  them,  He  makes  them  all  defer  to  Him. 
"  Abraham  saw  my  day,  and  was  glad."  "  Moses 
spake  of  me."  David  called  Him  Lord.  Isaiah 
saw  His  glory.  The  Baptist  bare  witness  to 
Him,  and  announced  Him  ;  and,  according  to  his 
presentation  of  the  commission  under  which  he 


IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A  CREATURE?  53 

acted,  he  is  something  unhke  them  all.  God 
''  gave  his  only  begotten  son,"  and  when  He 
comes  to  define  His  position,  it  is  thus:  "As 
thou,  Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee;"  "even 
as  we  are  one  ; ''  "  all  mine  are  thine,  and  thine 
are  mine."  And  as  to  the  final  result  of  His  com- 
mission. His  view  is,  "  Father,  I  will  that  where  I 
am,  they  may  be  also,  that  they  may  behold  my 
glory,"  and  that  glory  is  no  new  attainment, 
it  is  "  the  glory  which  I  had  with  thee  before 
the  world  was" — (See  John  xvii.  throughout). 
Surely  when  the  value  of  the  example  of  Jesus 
to  us  men  is  enforced,  there  is  some  need  for 
the  explanation  of  this  flagrant  departure  from 
the  lowliness  of  mind  becoming  a  creature.  It 
will  be  hard  to  maintain  the  claims  of  Jesus  to 
respect  as  a  man,  if  we  deny  His  dignity  as  God. 
He  is  a  creature  say  the  Socinians ;  some  giv- 
ing Him  one  degree  of  dignity,  some  another. 
Now,  if  being  a  creature.  He  had  aimed  at  crea- 
ting the  impression  that  He  was  much  more,  that 
He  was  divine,  could  He  have  adopted  a  more 
successful  policy?  Can  any  one  suggest  any 
more  effective  method  for  a  creature  to  win  for 
himself  a  place  beside  Jehovah  than  that  which 


s 


54 


IS  OUR  SAVIOUR  A  CREATURE? 


Jesus  adopted  ?  He  spoke  with  the  authority 
of  God.  He  assumes  a  divine  tone:  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you."  The  people  to  whom 
He  addressed  himself  had  a  divine  law,  and  or- 
dinances which  they  had  indeed  vitiated  and 
perverted.  But  it  came  to  them  from  the  thun- 
ders and  lightnings  of  Sinai,  and  was  proclaimed 
with  the  voice,  and  written  with  the  finger,  of 
God.  He  enforces  its  deeper  meaning  with  "  I 
say  unto  you,"  and  tells  men  that  persons  might 
prophesy  and  cast  out  demons  in  His  name  (this 
itself  being  a  wonderful  assumption  of  power), 
but  have  it  said  to  them,  "  Depart  from  me,  I 
never  knew  you,  ye  that  work  iniquity."  From 
all  which  we  conclude  that  the  authority  of 
Christ  as  a  teacher,  and  the  moral  value  of 
His  example,  can  only  be  consistently  and  con- 
tinuously maintained  by  holding  that  our  Savi- 
our is  the  same  in  substance  with  the  Father, 
His  equal  in  power  and  glory. 


WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 


OST  Bible  Christians  would  reply  to 
this  question  by  another  from  Mark 
2:  7 — "Who  can  forgive  sins  but  God 
only  ?  "  And  this  judgment  of  the 
Jewish  Church  our  Lord  approves,  and  claims 
that,  as  Son  of  Man,  one  with  the  Father,  he  has 
power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins — Mark  2  :   10. 

But  thfs  is  not  the  answer  given  authorita- 
tively to  multitudes  of  inquirers.  The  Church 
of  Rome  says  of  the  human  priest  "  that,  unlike 
the  authority  given  to  the  priests  of  the  old  law, 
to  declare  the  leper  cleansed  from  his  leprosy, 
the  power  with  which  the  priests  of  the  new  law 
are  invested  is  not  simply  to  declare  that  sins 
are  forgiven,  but  as  the  ministers  of  God  really  to 
absolve  from  sin!'  (Catechism  of  the  Council  of 
Trent.)     And  that  there  may  be  no  mistake  re- 


56  IVirO  CAM  FORGIVE  SINS? 

garding  it,  it  is  further  declared  that  "  the  priest 
represents  the  character,  and  discharges  the  func- 
tions, of  Jesus  Christ."  He  does  not  "  declare  and 
pronounce,"  which  the  English  Church  does,  with 
questionable  wisdom  ;  but  he  absolves :  and  he 
does  not  declare  and  pronounce  on  condition  that 
men  are  truly  penitent  and  contrite ;  but,  accord- 
ing to  the  same  authority,  men  must  be  uncer- 
tain whether  they  are  truly  contrite,  and  the 
sacrament  of  penance  was  instituted  in  order  to 
calm  this  solicitude  and  to  give  "  a  well-founded 
hope  that  our  sins  are  forgiven  by  the  absolu- 
tion of  the  priest."  (Catechism  of  Council  of 
Trent,  Professor  Donovan's  Translation,  p.  256.) 

This  doctrine  is  inculcated  upon  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  the  United  States  to  the  number, 
as  it  is  claimed,  of  six  to  eight  millions ;  and  the 
.practices  of  the  Confessional  are  being  resumed, 
it  is  alleged,  in  the  Episcopal  Church — one  may 
hope  without  sanction  and  in  some  surreptitious 
way  only — after  a  protest  against  them  of  three 
hundred  years. 

To  reach  definite  and  scriptural  ideas  on  this 
question,  it  is  necessary  to  look  at  sin  itself. 
What  is  sin  ? 


WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS?  57 

It  is  not  an  evil  like  pain,  which  may  be  acute 
and  terrible,  but  does  not  disturb  the  conscience. 
Sin  is  felt  in  the  conscience  as  an  evil  against 
God.  It  is  a  breach  of  law — not  like  exposure 
of  one's  self  to  cold  or  hunger,  which  violates  the 
laws  of  Nature  ;  nor  like  an  act  of  rudeness  which 
violates  the  social  law ;  but  a  breach  of  the  law 
of  God.  The  importance  of  the  law  relatively  is 
of  no  account.  Any  law  of  God  has  divine  au- 
thority as  its  support,  and  any  breach  of  it  is  a 
revolt  against  divine  authority :  and  the  law  of 
God  reflecting  the  nature  and  feelings  of  God, 
any  breach  of  it  is  a  revolt  against  God  himself. 

No  distinction,  therefore,  can  be  admitted 
between  venial  and  mortal  sins.  "  The  wages 
of  sin  is  death" — (Rom.  6  :  23).  No  sin  is  so 
light  as  to  be  overlooked,  .because  no  matter 
what  the  form  of  it,  the  spirit  of  it  is  opposition 
to  God's  law  and  nature.  "  Some  sins  in  them- 
selves, and  by  reason  of  several  aggravations,  are 
more  heinous  in  the  sight  of  God  than  others," 
but  "  every  sin  deserves  God's  wrath  and  curse.  ' 
The  moment  we  admit  any  such  distinction,  as 
is  made  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  all  practical 
morality  is  thrown  into  confusion.     It  is  made, 


58 


JVHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 


for  example,  a  mortal  sin  to  work  at  servile  work 
two  hours  and  a  half  on  a  Sunday  or  a  holiday, 
but  it  is  not  sin  for  a  music-master  to  teach  all 
day  and  be  paid  for  it.  ("  What  every  Christian 
must  know  and  doP — A  popular  Roman  Catholic 
catechism.) 

Nor,  if  we  have  a  true  and  scriptural  idea  of 
sin,  can  we  admit  any  works  of  supererogation. 
Then  existence  is  based  on  the  assumption  that 
God's  law  is  exhausted  in  a  set  of  specific  com- 
mands; that,  in  addition  to  it,  He  has  given  pre- 
cepts with  which  the  monk,  the  ascetic,  com- 
plies, and  so  lays  up  a  store  of  merit  over  and 
above  the  demands  of  law,  and  which,  like  a 
piece  of  property  in  the  family,  is  for  the  good 
of  the  whole.  But  to  administer  this  stock  of 
over-obedience  is  the  function  of  the  Church  ;  and 
it  is  easy  to  see  how  arbitrary  and  irresponsible 
she  may  become  in  dispensing  a  benefit  so  im- 
palpable, so  entirely  out  of  the  reach  of  human 
tests,  and  which,  indeed,  has  no  substance  and 
no  reality  but  in  the  imaginations  of  ignorant  or 
interested  men. 

The  Scripture  doctrine  of  sin  is  in  I  John  3  : 
4 — "  Whosoever   committeth   sin,  transgresseth 


WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 


59 


also  the  law ;  for  sin  is  the  transgression  of  the 
law."  Only  He  who  has  framed  the  law  there- 
fore can  deal  with  the  sin  in  the  way  of  forgive- 
ness. 

The  theory,  however,  set  up  to  meet  this  is  in 
the  power  of  the  keys,  to  judge  of  which  it  is 
necessary  to  examine  the  passages  on  which  this 
claim  is  rested.  They  are  three  in  number,  and 
are  found  in  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  at  chapters 
i6:  19,  and  18:  18,  and  in  John  20:  23.  We 
shall  take  them  in  this  order  and  in  detail. 

In  Matt.  16:  19,  our  Lord  gives  to  Peter  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  assuring  him 
that  what  he  "  bound  on  earth  should  be  bound 
in  heaven." 

Now  what  does  the  Saviour  mean  by  His 
"kingdom?''  See,  in  reply,  Luke  22:  28,  29 — 
"Ye  are  they  which  have  continued  with  me  in 
my  temptations.  And  I  appoint  unto  you  a 
kingdom,  as  my  Father  hath  appointed  unto 
me."  Whatever  that  "  kingdom  of  heaven"  is, 
it  is  the  same  the  Father  has  appointed  him. 
This  is  rendered  obvious  by  Matt.  19  :  28 — "  And 
Jesus  said  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
That  ye  which  have  followed  me,  in  the  regener- 


60  ■        WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 

ation  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit  in  the  throne 
of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  He  had 
just  spoken  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the 
kingdom  of  God  as  of  difficult  access  to  a  rich 
man  in  verses  23,  24  preceding.  In  antithesis  to 
the  rich  man  kept  otit  of  the  kingdom  by  his 
riches,  they  shall  be  in  it  and  on  thrones,  the  re- 
ward of  being  with  Christ  in  his  humiliation. 

Now  we  cannot  believe  that  Christ  gives  up 
to  Peter  the  kingdom  given  Him  of  the  Father,  or 
surrenders  to  the  apostle  the  authority  He  re- 
ceived. We  cannot  believe  that  He  strips  him- 
self of  the  power  of  opening  the  door  of  that 
kingdom,  and  abdicates  in  Peter's  favor.  But 
the  passage  must  prove  this,  if  it  proves  any- 
thing. 

But  if  reason  would  let  us  believe  anything 
so  monstrous.  Scripture  itself  forbids  it.  When 
the  foolish  virgins  knock  at  the  door.  He  does 
not  send  them  to  Peter,  but  says,  "  I  know  you 
not."  When  He  defines  His  own  position  in 
Rev.  I  :  17,  18,  it  is  thus — "  Fear  not,  I  am  the 
first  and  the  last :  I  am  he  that  liveth  and  was 
dead  ;    and    behold,    I    am    alive   for   evermore, 


WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS?  6l 

Amen  ;  and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death." 
So  in  Rev.  3  :  7 — "  And  to  the  angel  of  the 
chuixh  in  Philadelphia  write :  These  things 
saith  he  that  is  holy,  he  that  is  true,  he  that 
hath  the  key  of  David,  he  that  openeth,  and  no 
man  shutteth  ;  and  shutteth,  and  no  man  open- 
eth." In  the  face  of  these  passages  it  is  impos- 
sible to  doubt  that  our  Lord  admits  to  heaven, 
or  shuts  out  from  it,  in  a  sense  untrue  of  any 
apostle.  The  power  of  the  keys  must,  therefore, 
be  something  different  from  the  Romish  sense 
of  it. 

But  the  power  of  the  keys  is  defined  in  part 
in  the  passage  itself,  as  binding  and  loosing,  the 
identical  words  employed  to  all  the  apostles ; 
and  this  again  is  the  same  with  the  expressions 
in  John  (20:  23)  remitting  and  retaining.  Now 
the  question  is,  In  what  sense  did  Christ  em- 
ploy these  words  ? 

It  may  be  presumed  that  the  apostles  sooner 
or  later  knew  and  used  their  powers.  But  they 
never  used  any  power  such  as  these  words  are 
supposed  to  convey  of  absolving  sin,  "  discharg- 
ing the  functions  of  Jesus  Christ."  Were  they 
remiss  ?     Had  they  the  power  to  open  the  door 


62  ^f^-^0  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 

into  glory,  and  did  they  neglect  to  use  it  ?  Did 
they  who,  like  Peter,  Paul,  and  John,  yearned 
over  perishing  souls  allow  this  tremendous  power 
to  lie  idle  ?  Impossible.  But  we  never  find 
them  employ  it.  We  do  find  them  night  and 
day  with  tears  telling  men  the  terms  and  condi- 
tions on  which  God  receives  and  rejects,  and 
when  men  believed  their  testimony,  receiving 
them  into  the  Christian  Church.  And  we  do 
find  them  when  a  professor  of  Christ's  religion 
has  proved  himself  only  a  professor,  and  acted 
unworthily  of  a  place  in  the  Church  or  kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ,  directing  his  removal  with  apos- 
tolic authority,  i  Cor.  5  :  4,  5 — "  In  the  name 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  ye  are  gathered 
together,  and  my  spirit,  with  the  power  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  To  deliver  such  a  one 
unto  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that 
the  spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord 
Jesus." 

That  such  actual  results  would  be  involved  in 
such  a  form  of  command  as  our  Lord  employed, 
is  shown  by  a  corresponding  use  of  language  in 
the  Old  Testament.  Sending  out  the  meek  and 
pensive    Jeremiah    to    do    prophetic    work,    the 


lFI/0  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS?  63 

Lord  said  to  him  (i  :  10) — "  See,  I  have  this  day 
set  thee  over  the  nations  and  over  the  kingdoms, 
to  root  out   and   to  pull   down,  and  to  destroy, 
and    to    throw    down,   to  build   and    to    plant." 
Had   any  commission  like    this   been   given   to 
Peter,  his  so-called  successor  might  have  founded 
on  it  any  claim  from  the  scrutiny  of  the  Inqui- 
sition to  the  displacement  of  kings  and  the  do- 
nation of  empires.     But  no  one  understands  that 
any  executive  power  was   given    to    Jeremiah. 
He  was  empowered  to  proclaim  to  men  the  con- 
ditions  on  which  the   Lord  would   control   the 
march  of  events,  and  shape  the  history  of  kings 
and  nations.     He  was   not  a  king-maker,  but  a 
preacher.     So,  in  another  connection,  the  chief 
butler  of  Pharoah  told  his  royal  master  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  Hebrew  lad  in  the   prison.     "  He 
interprets,"  says  he,  "  our  dreams.     And  it  came 
to  pass,  as  he  interpreted  to  us,  so  it  was  ;  me 
he    restored     unto     mine     office,    and    him    he 
hanged" — (Gen.  41:   13).     The  logic  and  exe- 
gesis which  make  the  apostles  actually  remit  and 
retain  sins,  would  make  Joseph  the  actual  exe- 
cutioner of  one,  and  restorer  of  the  other  court- 
official,  while  he  was  still  languishing  in  prison. 


(54  WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 

But  he  made  out  in  Ids  interpretation  that  this 
would  be  the  issue,  and  so  in  the  pithy  speech 
of  the  chief  butler  it  is  said  "  me  he  restored  to 
mine  office,  and  him  he  hanged." 

We  are  confirmed  in  the  conviction  that  it  is 
this  power  of  announcing  God's  terms,  and  re- 
ceiving into  His  Church,  that  the  Saviour  con- 
ferred, by  considering  corresponding  terms  in 
Scripture.  For  example,  our  Lord  denounces 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees  in  Matt.  23:  13 — 
"  For  ye  shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven  against 
men.''  Had  they  also  Peter's  power  of  the  keys  ? 
What  did  the  Lord  mean  ?  "  Ye  do  all  you  can 
to  keep  men  from  believing  me,  and  receiving 
life  on  God's  terms.''  So  He  said  to  them  in  ex- 
planation, "  Ye  neither  go  in  yourselves,  neither 
suffer  ye  them  that  are  entering,  to  go  in.''  The 
opposite  of  what  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  did, 
is  to  be  the  power  and  privilege  of  the  apostles. 
They  go  in  and  do  all  they  can  to  introduce 
others  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  In  the  same 
sense  in  which  the  scribes  shut,  they  open.  And 
what  is  this  kingdom  ?  In  this  same  gospel — the 
gospel  for  the  Jewish  people,  and  with  Jewish 
modes  of  expression — we  are  not  left  in  doubt. 


IVIIO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS?  65. 

In  Matt.  3 :  2,  the  Baptist  said,  "  Repent  ye,  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  In  Matt.  4 : 
17,  our  Lord  repeated  the  very  same  words.  He 
could  only  mean  his  dispensation,  or  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  Heaven  was  not  at  hand  in  any 
sense  pecuHar  to  that  time.  When  the  Lord 
chose  the  twelve  and  sent  them  out  to  preach, 
He  said — Matt.  10:  7 — "As  ye  go,  preach,  say- 
ing, the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 

The  power  of  the  keys,  therefore,  we  take, 
with  Bellarmine,  to  be  identical  with  the  power 
of  remitting  and  retaining,  binding  and  loosing. 
All  the  phrases  are  figurative,  and  all  mean  the 
same  thing.  They  do  not  relate  to  the  future 
state  of  the  redeemed  on  earth,  but  to  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation  which  after  the  departure  of 
the  Lord  they  introduced,  and  to  the  Church 
which  is  founded  on  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  being  the  chief  corner-stone.  They 
do  not,  therefore,  imply  any  such  power  of  ab- 
solving from  sin  as  has  been  founded  on  them. 

We  hold  with  IrenjEus,  that  God  only  can  for- 
give sins,  and  argue  with  him  that,  since  Jesus 
Christ  forgives  sins,  He  must  be  divine.  We 
should  say  as  Basil  said  to  a  lady  who  came  to 


66  WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SIiVS? 

him,  "  Hast    thou    heard,  O   woman,  that  none 
can  forgive  sins  but  God  alone  ? '' 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  show  how  modern 
and  how  mischievous  is  the  Romish  theory  on 
this  momentous  subject.  One  does  not  need  to 
revert  to  Augustine's  unanswerable  question — 
"  To  what  purpose  do  I  confess  my  sins  to  men 
who  cannot  heal  or  wound  ?  Or  that  other — 
"  How  shall  they  who  know  nothing  of  my  heart, 
but  by  my  own  confession,  know  whether  I  say 
true  or  not  ?  Nor  to  the  appeal  of  Gregory  the 
Great — "  Thou  who  alone  forgivest  sins :  for 
who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  alone  ?  "  Nor  to 
the  argument  of  Cyril — "  For  indeed  it  belongeth 
to  the  true  God  alone  to  be  able  to  loose  men 
from  their  sins  ;  for  who  else  can  free  the  trans- 
gressor of  the  law  from  sin,  but  he  who  is  the 
Author  of  the  law  itself?''  It  will  be  more  to 
the  point  to  quote  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  in 
1 164,  Peter  Lombard,  who  says — "In  this  so 
great  variety  of  opinions  (on  sacerdotal  power), 
surely  this  we  may  say  and  think,  that  God  alone 
doth  forgive  and  retain  sins,  and  yet  hath  given 
power  of  binding  or  loosing  to  the  Church  ;  but 
he   bindctJi  and  loosctJi  one  way,  and  the  Church 


WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS?  67 

another^  A  favorite  illustration  was  that  em- 
ployed by  Cardinal  Hugo — "The  priest  cannot 
bind  or  loose  the  sinner  with  or  from  the  bond 
of  the  fault,  or  the  punishment  due  to  it ;  but 
only  declares  men  to  be  bound  or  loosed  ;  as 
the  Levitical  priest  did  not  make  or  cleanse  the 
leper,  but  only  declared  him  to  be  infected  or 
clean." 

It  was  in  later  times,  as  the  light  went  out 
and  the  darkness  deepened,  that  the  priest  arro- 
gated to  himself  the  keys  of  the  heaven  above  : 
and  when  the  Council  of  Trent  met,  and  the  ranks 
had  to  be  closed  up  against  Protestantism,  that  a 
logical,  self-consistent,  concatenated  system  was 
completed,  with  the  keys  in  the  Pope's  hand,  and 
his  power  transmitted  to  every  connected  priest, 
thus  established  as  master  of  the  destinies  of  all 
who  owned  his  prerogatives. 

No  :  not  completed.  To  use  any  power  like 
this,  nothing  short  of  infallibility  is  needed. 
What  if  men  make  mistakes,  sending  inside  the 
gates  those  whom  the  Lord  receives  not,  or  ex- 
cluding whom  He  has  received  ?  A  conscien- 
tious priest  must  often  have  sore  mental  struggles, 
and   a   fearful   sense   of  crushing  responsibility. 


68  IVIIO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 

To  proclaim  papal  infallibility  became  a  logical 
necessity.  If  only  men  can  be  persuaded — if 
only  the  popular  imagination  can  be  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  no  mistakes  can  possibly  be 
made,  they  will  be  mad  if  they  break  with  a 
power  whose  permit  is  invariably  indorsed  by 
the  Lord  of  the  Heavenly  world,  and  whose 
anathema  bars  the  gates  of  heaven  against  its 
object. 

How  this  modern  appliance  has  worked, 
restless  Roman  Catholics  have  testified.  The 
distinction  between  attrition  and  contrition,  the 
latter  being  very  rare  and  very  hard  to  be  sure 
about,  first  bewilders,  and  then  deadens,  con- 
science. Why  labor  for  what  I  cannot  be  sure 
about,  when  the  Church's  sacraments  remove  all 
uncertainty  ?  Why  hold  back  from  indulgence 
when  an  hour's  interview  with  the  priest  will  set 
me  on  my  feet  again  ?  And  if  there  should  be 
difficulties  in  obtaining  absolution,  at  least  it  is 
not  withheld  on  a  deathbed.  And  if  there  be 
pains  after,  there  are  provisions,  and  means  will 
go  some  length  in  procuring  relief.  So  con- 
science is  seared.  The  soul  is  subjugated  to  sin 
in  moments  of  temptation,  to  the  clergy  in  mo- 


WHO  CAN  FORGIVE  SINS? 


69 


ments  of  alarm.  The  atonement  of  the  Saviour 
is  put  out  of  view.  The  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  dispensed  with.  The  law  does  not  need  to  be 
written  on  the  heart.  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
no  longer  within.  It  is  not  God  with  whom  we 
have  to  do,  but  a  man — a  man  clothed  indeed 
with  mysterious  and  awful  power,  but  still  a  man 
— a  man  whom  we  join  at  cards,  or  a  glass  of 
wine.  The  elevating  contact  with  God  in  Christ 
is  lost  to  the  soul,  and  it  grovels  among  objects 
little  greater  than  itself.  Prayer  becomes  part 
of  penance,  and  the  cleansing  efficacy  of  the 
blood  "  is  superseded  by  the  clearing  off  of  the 
enjoined  compensations.  Under  spiritual  direc- 
tion the  ultimate  ambition  of  superficial  human 
nature  is  reached,  and  we  become  every  man 
his  own  Saviour."  That  many  souls — not  igno- 
ble— penetrate  this  hard  and  barren  lava-crust 
and  reach  the  living  water  beneath  it,  God  for- 
bid that  we  should  doubt.  But  they  drink  not 
by  means  of,  but  in  spite  of,  the  system  which 
has  systematized  atonement  by  the  creature, 
and,  in  putting  a  priest  in  the  Confessional,  seats 
itself  in  the  temple  of  God  as  if  it  were  God. 


HOW   CAN   GOD   BE   KNOWN? 


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rV^ 

HIS  question  never  gives  much  trouble 
to  ordinary,  unsophisticated  minds.  It 
has  been,  in  late  days,  only  among  the 
philosophers,  and  those  of  the  tran- 
scendental school,  that  it  has  awakened  inter- 
est and  aroused  controversy.  Even  a  cursory 
glance  into  the  speculations  of  these  men  satis- 
fies one  that  much  of  the  discussion  is  a  war  of 
words.  Hegel  and  Schelling  and  Cousin,  while 
not  agreeing  among  themselves,  and  while  in 
one  form  or  other  identifying  God  Avith  nature, 
or  with  infinite  or  absolute  reason,  are  refuted 
by  Sir  William  Hamilton  ;  and  he,  in  turn,  is 
regarded  by  sound  thinkers  as  taking  a  position 
in  refutation  of  the  German  transcendentalists, 
and  against  Pantheism,  which  is  not  compatible 
with  the  Christian  relisfion.     He  did  not  mean  it 


HOW  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN?  J I 

SO.  He  thought  his  philosophy  sound,  and  a 
support  to  religion,  while  Dr.  Hodge,  for  exam- 
ple, considers  his  philosophical  views  regard- 
ing God,  and  those  of  Dr.  Mansel,  who  was 
an  excellent  Protestant  clergyman,  inconsistent 
with  belief  in  a  personal  God.  Herbert  Spencer, 
who  claims  to  follow  Sir  W.  Hamilton,  is  under- 
stood to  deny  the  being  of  a  personal  God. 

The  consolatory  reflection  to  us  is,  that  we 
can  have  all  the  solid  comfort  of  Christian  belief, 
and  all  the  safety  of  the  children  of  God,  with- 
out even  hearing  of  these  disputations.  Like 
the  electric  storms  of  which  we  know  nothing, 
until  we  see  a  notice  of  them  in  the  newspapers 
next  day,  these  intellectual  conflicts  rage  above 
us  without  disturbing  us  in  the  pursuit  of  use- 
fulness and  the  path  of  Christian  obedience.  We 
may  comfort  ourselves  by  the  feeling  that  such 
of  these  disputants  as  enjoy  Christian  peace  and 
hope,  discard  for  the  purposes  of  these  graces 
their  philosophical  investigations,  and  sit,  as  we 
do,  as  little  children  at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 

The  point  that  is  of  some  practical  conse- 
quence to  us,  is  the  harmonizing  of  the  language 
which   the  Bible   employs,  and  which  we  use. 


72  HOW  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN? 

after  it,  as  to  God's  nature,  with  certain  other 
language  which  it  teaches  us  to  adopt.  For 
example,  we  address  God  as  incomprehensible. 
There  is  foundation  for  it  in  Job,  37 :  5 — "  Great 
things  doeth  he  which  we  cannot  comprehend." 
We  describe  Him  as  ''  unsearchable."  The  au- 
thority for  this  is  in  Job,  5  :  8,  9 — "  I  would  seek 
unto  God,  and  unto  God  would  I  commit  my 
cause ;  which  doeth  great  things  and  unsearch- 
able ;  marvellous  things  without  number."  So 
in  Psalm  145  :  3 — "  His  greatness  is  unsearch- 
able." In  Rom.  II:  33 — "His  judgments  are 
unsearchable,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out." 
We  speak  of  Him  as  dwelling  in  inaccessible  light. 
The  authority  for  the  phrase  is  in  i.  Tim.  6:  16 
— "  Dwelling  in  the  light  which  no  man  can 
approach  unto,"  the  allusion  being  apparently 
to  Ex.  33  :  20 — "  Thou  canst  not  see  my  face, 
for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and  live."  Yet, 
in  seeming  opposition  to  this,  we  are  enjoined  to 
acquaint  ourselves  with  God,  and  be  at  peace 
with  him  (Job,  22:  21);  the  apostle  John  tells 
us  that  "we  know  that  we  know  him"  (i  John, 
2 :  3),  and  the  Redeemer  has  taught  us  that 
"  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee 


HOW  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN?  73 

the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  thou 
hast  sent'' — (John,  17:  3). 

Hence,  a  caviller  does  not  require  any  special 
acuteness  to  say,  "  Look  at  the  contradiction 
that  is  here.  Your  God  is  unsearchable,  inac- 
cessible, unknowable ;  and  yet  it  is  essential  to 
life -that  you  should  know  Him." 

Now  we  can  only  make  a  definite  reply  to 
such  an  objection  by  a  clear  use  of  language. 
When  we  say  of  God,  "  Who  can  by  searching 
find  out  God? — who  can  find  out  the  Almighty 
unto  perfection?"  we  do  not  mean  that  nothing 
can  be  known  of  Him.  We  mean  He  cannot 
be  perfectly  known.  He  is  too  vast  for  perfect 
comprehension.  This  is  a  distinction  familiar 
and  inevitable  to  all  life.  We  know  the  ocean, 
can  taste  it,  bathe  in  it,  sail  over  it,  without 
knowing  it  to  perfection..  We  can  know  space, 
move  in  it,  measure  portions  of  it,  without  know- 
ing it  to  perfection.  A  child  can  know  his 
father,  love  and  be  loved,  without  knowing  his 
plans,  his  business,  his  intentions.  I  can  know 
a  friend  who  is  a  painter,  without  comprehend- 
ing his  art ;  or  a  musician,  while  his  powers  are 
incomprehensible  to  me.     We  can  know  math- 


74  HO IV  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN? 

ematics,  but  not  necessarily  all  truth  of  the 
mathematical  kind.  We  can  know  God  as  Crea- 
tor, Father  and  God  of  salvation,  without  per- 
fectly and  fully  knowing  Him, 

Indeed,  it  would  be  a  very  wonderful  thing 
if  men  did  perfectly  know  God  the  Creator,  see- 
ing there  is  nothing  of  the  creatures  they  know 
perfectly.  The  race  went  on  till  comparatively 
lately  without  knowing  even  the  circulation  of 
its  own  blood.  The  oculist  finds  out  new  facts 
regarding  the  eye,  the  aurist  regarding  the  ear, 
the  optician  regarding  light,  the  zoologist  re- 
garding the  animals,  the  mineralogist  regarding 
the  metals,  the  astronomer  regarding  the  stars. 
It  would  be  an  astounding  thing  if  a  creature 
did  not  perfectly  comprehend  itself  or  any  other 
creature,  but  yet  comprehended  fully  and  per- 
fectly the  Creator. 

There  is  a  class  of  passages  in  Scripture 
that  suggest  the  middle  truth,  by  and  in  which 
the  apparent  opposites  are  reconciled.  Christ, 
when  known  to  men,  so  that  they  are  reconciled 
and  saved  by  Him,  promises  in  reward  of  loyal 
obedience  to  manifest  Himself  unto  them,  i.  e.^ 
show  them  more  of  Himself.    They  know  some- 


HOW  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN?  75 

thing  ;  they  shall  know  more.  Paul,  who  knew 
Him,  desires  to  know  Him  and  the  power  of  His 
resurrection  and  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings 
— (Phil.  3  :  18).  The  Ephesians  knew  the  Lord, 
but  Paul  prays  (Eph.  i  :  17,  18,  19)  for  further 
insight  into  His  ways,  particularly  in  redemption 
and  His  relations  to  His  people.  Paul  says  he 
knew  as  a  child  (i  Cor.  13  :  ii) ;  he  saw  through 
a  glass  darkly  (v.  12) ;  he  knew  in  part,  but  he 
looks  for  unobstructed  vision,  and  a  more  ex- 
tended knowledge. 

In  the  light  of  passages  like  these,  all  look 
of  contradiction  disappears  ;  we  are  seen  to  be 
but  learners,  only  partially  informed ;  and  with  a 
Being  to  be  constantly  studied,  without  the  pos- 
sibility of  exhausting  the  subject  and  sinking  in- 
to satiety.  A  listless  child  is  sometimes  directed 
to  a  supposed  good  book,  and  more  or  less  truly 
replies,  "  Oh  !  I  know  it  all — it  has  nothing  new 
to  interest  me."  But  the  children  of  God  can 
never — though  they  have  eternity  for  the  ef- 
fort— fathom  the  depths  of  this  Almighty  and 
Infinite  Creator. 

Our  ignorance  of  Him,  then,  is  not  the  ignor- 
ance of  an  idiot,  whose  mind  is  blank — absolutely 


76  HOW  CAN  COD  BE  KNOWN? 

destitute  of  ideas.  It  is  more  like  the  short- 
sightedness of  defective  eyes,  or  hke  color- 
blindness. We  know  what  divine  attributes  are ; 
that  they  exist ;  and  are  exercised  ;  though  not 
always  able  to  distinguish  the  operation  of  each, 
or  to  follow  them  in  their  far-reaching  effects. 
A  man  stands  by  while  a  cannon  is  fired.  He 
cannot  see  the  ball,  nor  follow  its  flight ;  but  he 
sees  the  explosion,  hears  the  sound,  knows  how 
the  explosion  was  produced,  can  explain  it  in 
part,  and  estimate  roughly  the  effect  of  the  ball. 
So  in  the  ways  of  God.  He  has  shown  us 
enough  to  satisfy  us  that  He  acts,  and,  in  part, 
how  He  acts,  though  it  often  enough  happens  that 
the  mode  of  His  action  eludes  our  observation, 
and  the  influence  of  His  proceedings  is  far  be- 
yond our  reach.  Men  saw  how  Jesus  jChrist  was 
betrayed,  condemned,  crucified  ;  but  who  saw 
the  moral  bearings  of  the  act,  and  the  far-extend- 
ing results  it  produced  ?  They  could  see  that 
Christ  obeyed  the  Father,  and  that  He  who  gave 
Him  up  to  death  would  glorify  Himself  thereby, 
but  who  of  them  estimated  the  consequences? 
We  do  only  in  part,  angels  do  only  in  part ;  none, 


//OIV  CAN  COD  BE  KNOWN?  'J'J 

save  the  Lord  himself,  comprehended  the  entire 
movement. 

How,  then,  in  point  of  fact,  do  we  know  God  ? 

(a)  There  is  an  innate  knowledge  of  Him. 
We  are  so  made  as  to  feel  Him,  as  it  were.  It 
is  one  of  the  intuitions  or  first  truths  of  the  mind- 
This  knowledge  is  necessary ;  and  it  is  universal, 
as  proved  by  history,  observation  and  Scripture. 
Conscience  works  in  some  way  everywhere. 
Men  have  everywhere  a  sense  of  dependence 
on  some  higher  Being,  and  of  responsibility  to 
Him. 

Exceptional  cases  prove  nothing  against 
this.  Occasional  idiocy  does  not  disprove  that 
man  is  a  reasonable  being,  nor  occasional  child- 
murder  that  parental  affection  is  natural.  But 
it  is  doubtful  if  the  exceptional  cases  have  been 
proved,  for  alleged  savages  without  an  idea  of 
God  are  usually  imperfectly  understood ;  and 
men  are  apt  to  think  even  regarding  themselves 
that  they  had  no  God,  when  the  ignorance  is  rel- 
ative, and  they  mean  "  no  such  God  as  I  have 
now."  Observation  may,  and  does,  strengthen 
this  feeling  of  God's  existence,  and  reflection 
may  deepen   it.     Tradition   may  give  it   shape 


78  f^OW  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN? 

and  definiteness,  but  it  is  prior  to  reasoning 
and  learning ;  wrought  into  our  constitution,  it 
makes  us  capable  of  dealing  with  an  unseen 
world,  just  as  by  the  intuitive  belief  in  the  evi- 
dence of  our  senses  we  are  made  to  realize  from 
the  beginning  the  existence  of  a  visible  and  ma- 
terial world. 

{b)  God  can  be  known  from  His  works. 
"Every effect  must  have  a  cause"  is  an  intuitive 
truth.  The  world  is  an  effect,  and  must  have 
a  cause,  and  a  cause  equal  to  the  production  of 
the  effect.  This  argument  is  known  as  the  cos- 
mological;  is  dependent  for  its  force  on  the  just 
ideas  of  causation ;  was  developed  by  Plato  and 
Aristotle  ;  attacked  by  Hume,  and  has  been  ad- 
equately defended  by  men  equally  scientific  and 
far  more  philosophical  and  devout. 

Unless  we  hold  the  eternity  of  man,  there 
must  have  been  a  beginning  for  him.  But  his- 
tory shows  a  limit  to  man's  existence.  Even 
"  development  "  does  not  deny  this.  Granted,  if 
you  will,  that  man  has  improved  and  grown  out 
of  germ-cells,  it  is  not  held  that  they  are  "  from 
everlasting,"  or  self-existent,  or  self-made.  Call 
them    by   any   name   you   will,    "  protoplasm," 


HOW  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN?  70 

"cells,"  or  what  not,  make  them  out  to  be  as 
many  millions  of  years  back  as  you  will,  while 
a  beginning  is  conceded,  there  is  need  for  a 
Creator,  and  it  will  have  to  be  admitted  that 
the  evidence  of  power,  wisdom,  and  design  is 
overwhelming  if  we  assume  that  cells  or  "  pro- 
toplasm" have  been  formed  in  such  a  way  as  to 
develope  into  what  we  call  "  Creation"  in  any 
era,  no  matter  how  distant.  This  ought  to  be 
remembered  in  favor  of  certain  scientists  who 
are  loosely  described  as  atheists  or  materialists 
on  account  of  the  scientific  positions  they  have 
assumed.  They  put  back  creation,  but  do  not 
deny  it.  They  make  its  early  stages  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  accepted  ideas  of  it,  but  they  do 
not  by  their  theory  ignore  a  Deity,  and  should 
not  have  railing  accusations  brought  against 
them. 

(c)  For  moral  and  spiritual  purposes  God 
can  be  known  from  His  word,  which  is  meant 
to  be  a  permanent,  world-wide,  infallible,  and 
intelligible  revelation  of  Himself.  This  He  em- 
ploys for  the  awakening  of  men's  consciences 
to  the  need  of  peace  with  Him.  This  He  makes 
the  means  of  their  reconciliation  and  birth  into 


3o  HOW  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN? 

His  family.  This  He  employs  for  their  sanctifi- 
cation.  Here,  God  is  in  Christ,  reconciling  men 
to  Himself.  He  who  would  so  know  Him  as  to 
be  attracted  to  Him,  saved  by  His  grace,  assim- 
ilated to  His  nature,  sanctified,  is  directed  to 
"  the  truth,"  and  His  word  is  truth. 

And  to  the  loving  study  of  this  word  let  us 
turn  our  own,  and,  as  far  as  we  can,  our  neigh- 
bors', heads  and  hearts.  Let  us  summon  the  old 
from  their  cares  and  troubles  to  the  holy  calm 
it  breathes  ;  the  busy  and  ambitious  from  their 
struggles  to  the  solid  possessions  it  offers.  Let 
us  arrest  the  dreamy  speculator  among  his 
guesses,  and  lead  him  to  reverent  obedience  to 
the  holy  oracles.  Let  us  proclaim  man's  true 
mental  freedom  to  lie  in  submission  to  the 
Father  of  lights.  Let  us — perhaps  more  than  all 
— exalt  this  word  in  the  pulpits,  and  the  schools 
of  the  Christian  churches.  Let  us  make  the 
young  conversant  with  it,  not  only  as  a  book, 
but  as  God's  book.  Let  us  flood  the  commu- 
nity with  its  light.  It  is  the  true  purifier,  and 
we  have  had  too  many  unhealthy  exhalations. 
It  is  the  one  effective,  inoffensive  check  upon 
those   anomalous   growths    of    human    opinion, 


HO  IV  CAN  GOD  BE  KNOWN? 


the  existence  and  extravagance  of  which  are 
made  the  reproach  of  private  judgment,  and 
which  are  "  rehgions"  only  in  regard  to  the 
topics  they  touch,  and  not  at  all  in  the  spirit 
they  inspire,  or  the  temper  they  exhibit. 


WHAT    IS    AN    APOSTOLIC    CHURCH? 


HE  two  things  to  which  men  commonly 
look,  in  forming  an  estimate  of  a 
church,  are  doctrine  and  discipline,  or, 
more  properly,  government.  What  does 
she  teach  ?  How  does  she  manage  her  affairs  ? 
These  two  things  are  not  equally  important,  but 
they  are  both  important.  Food  and  clothing 
are  not  equally  important.  Men  can  manage  to 
live  with  very  little  of  the  latter  for  long  periods, 
who  would  inevitably  die  if  deprived  of  the  for- 
mer. But  to  our  well-being,  food  and  "  raiment 
fit"  are  necessary.  So,  to  a  church's  well-being, 
doctrine  and  government  are  essential. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  church  could 
maintain  a  claim  to  be  "apostolic,"'  while  fla- 
grantly contradicting  apostolic  doctrine.  If 
the  apostles  made  out  justification  to  be  by  faith 


WHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH?         ^T^ 

alone,  and  the  Church  made  it  by  something 
else  ;  if  they  made  Christ  the  only  priest,  and  the 
Church  made  many  human  priests ;  if  they  put 
the  Scriptures  in  all  men's  hands,  and  the  Church 
only  in  those  of  the  clergy ;  if  they  sent  men 
for  absolution  to  Christ,  and  the  Church  to  the 
priest;  if  they  made  the  new  birth  to  be  by  the 
word  and  spirit,  and  the  Church  ascribed  it  to 
an  ordinance  ;  if  they  directed  men  to  the  cross 
for  everything,  and  the  Church  calls  them  to 
herself,  it  is  hard  to  see  wherein  her  claim  to 
apostolic  doctrine  lies.  She  diverges  from  it  at 
so  many  points,  and  these  vital  and  practical,  that 
it  seems  to  be  of  little  moment  how  much  other 
theoretic  truth  she  holds. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  Church 
of  Rome,  in  her  popular  presentation  of  herself, 
does  not  usually  put  doctrine  in  the  front — not 
because  of  any  sense  of  absolute  weakness  there, 
probably,  but  from  a  sense  of  relative  strength 
on  her  side  as  a  corporation.  She  points  to 
her  infallible  head  in  the  chair  of  Peter,  ruling 
over  so  much  of  Christendom,  for  so  long  a  time, 
and  with  a  sway  so  mighty  and  continuous.  This 
impresses    the    imagination :    seems   to    furnish 


84  ^i^ffA  T  IS  AiV  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 

a  strong  presumption  in  favor  of  the  organiza- 
tion that  claims  the  keys  and  serves  itself  heir 
to  the  promise  of  protection  forever,  against  the 
gates  of  hell. 

Rather  much  has  been  made  in  modern 
times  of  the  distinction — itself  not  very  sharp — 
between  "  essentials  and  non-essentials."  By 
the  "  essentials"  men  mean  that  which  a  sinner 
must  ordinarily  know  in  order  to  live,  such  as 
the  need  of  forgiveness  and  the  new  birth,  the 
work  of  Christ  for  us,  and  of  the  spirit  within  us. 
But  a  single  gospel,  even  a  chapter  like  John  iii., 
informs  us  on  these  points.  We  must  take  care 
that  we  do  not  stigmatise  much  of  the  Bible  as 
useless  and  unnecessary,  and  rule  that  unimpor- 
tant, the  very  giving  of  which  by  the  God  of  our 
salvation  implies  its  value  and  importance.  A 
chapter  or  a  book  in  the  Bible  may  not  be  essen- 
tial to  salvation,  but  it  is  very  certain  it  is  essen- 
tial to  some  wise  and  good  object.  There  are 
certain  organs  of  the  body  loosely  called  vital, 
and  essential  to  life,  as  distinguished  from  other 
portions  of  it ;  but  we  do  not  look  lightly  on 
any  injury  to  any  member.     And  if  we  have  a 


WHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH?         g^ 

healthy   religion,   we    shall    probably   feel   simi- 
larly regarding  the  whole  of  revelation. 

Assuming,  then,  that  substantial  agreement  in 
doctrine  with  the  apostles  is  necessary  to  an  apos- 
tolic church,  and  gladly  recognising  this  agree- 
ment in  the  Protestant  churches,  a  further  inquiry 
is  proper  as  to  the  government  of  the  Church. 
On  this  subject  it  would  be  vain  to  expect  in- 
structions as  ample  as  we  have  regarding  the 
atonement  ;  for  Scripture  emphasizes  truths  ac- 
cording to  their  relative  importance.  It  would 
also  be  vain  to  expect  the  topic  of  government 
to  be  treated  in  a  specific  and  formal  manner. 
Morality  is  not  so  enjoined  in  Scripture.  Great 
principles  are  laid  down,  and  the  honoring  or 
dishonoring  of  them  is  exemplified  throughout 
the  Bible.  God  thus  requires  diligence  in  search- 
ing, and  candor  in  applying,  on  the  part  of  a 
true  disciple. 

It  would  also  be  idle  to  expect  usages  to  be 
formally  explained  to  a  community  where  they 
were  already  accepted,  or  machinery  to  be  de- 
scribed to  those  among  whom  it  was  actually  at 
work.  We  do  not  look  for  definitions  on  the 
Sabbath  law,  or  on  public  worship  to  churches 


g(3  IVHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 

that  kept  the  Sabbath  and  regularly  worshipped. 
Yet,  on  all  these  and  many  similar  themes,  we 
have  hints,  references,  allusions,  directions,  by 
which  the  majority  of  Bible  Christians  have 
been  conducted  to  conclusions  on  which  they 
rest  confidently. 

It  is  sometimes  alleged  that  the  Scripture  is 
silent  regarding y^'rw^j' of  government;  and  this 
by  those  who  are  strenuous  in  upholding  ^^t^rr;/- 
ment.  But  it  is  difficult  to  see  how,  as  the  New 
Testament  is  constructed,  government  in  the 
abstract  could  be  enjoined,  and  absolute  silence 
be  maintained,  regarding  \.\v&  form.  It  will  not 
do  to  say  that  in  things  civil,  government  is 
recognized,  but  the  form  left  optional.  The  par- 
allel does  not  hold.  The  Bible  has  no  respon- 
sibility touching  civil  government.  But  it  has, 
and  it  assumes  it,  touching  spiritual.  When 
Paul  exercised  authority,  he  was  prepared  to 
define  its  source,  extent  and  character.  When 
he  ordained  elders,  or  directed  them  to  be  or- 
dained, he  had  and  conveyed  some  definite  idea 
of  what  they  were  to  be  and  to  do.  He  never 
gave  any  directions  whatever  regarding  the  elec- 
tion, inauguration,  or  functions  of  civil  officers. 


WIIA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH?         §7 

But  he  does  all  this  regarding  ecclesiastical.  It 
is  not  true,  in  fact,  that  the  New  Testament 
leaves  the  government  of  the  Church  exactly 
as  it  leaves  the  government  of  the  State. 
No  Christian  man  believes  that  a  ruler  in 
the  house  of  God  holds  his  place  on  the 
same  precise  ground  as  the  mayor  of  the 
city ;  or,  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  clear  issue, 
Paul  did  not  mean,  in  saying  "the  powers  that 
be  are  ordained  of  God,"  that  the  Roman  Em- 
peror and  he  himself  acted  under  the  same  kind 
of  divine  ordinance.  We  cannot,  therefore,  ad- 
mit that  the  New  Testament  is  as  indifferent  to 
modes  of  government  in  the  Church  as  in  the 
State.  The  New  Testament,  carried  into  a  com- 
munity without  government,  is  silent  as  to  their 
duty  in  that  respect  ;  but  it  has  a  message  to  a 
Christian  people  without  any  government,  and 
in  speaking  of"  elders,''  a  "  presbytery,"  "  obe- 
dience to  them  that  rule,"  in  defining  the  char- 
acter and  qualifications  of  "  bishops  and  dea- 
cons," it  does  a  great  deal  more  than  recom- 
mend government  in  the  abstract,  as  ordained 
of  God. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  general  character- 


88  ^VHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 

istics  of  the  government  of  the  apostolic  Church. 
How  did  it  get  its  officers  ?  Our  modern  history 
furnishes  a  parallel.  When  rebellion  breaks  out 
in  a  province,  special  officers  are  necessary  for 
the  purpose  of.  subduing  the  insurgents,  and  the 
general  government  commissions  them.  When 
the  work  is  done,  their  commission  ends,  and 
the  government  of  the  province  passes  to  other 
hands  for  ordinary  administration. 

So  when  the  world  was  to  be  subdued  under 
Christian  truth,  special  officers,  apostles  and 
prophets  were  commissioned  for  spiritual  work, 
and  with  special  qualifications.  They,  like  the 
miraculous  gifts  with  which  they  were  endowed, 
served  a  temporary  purpose,  and  had  no  suc- 
cessors. The  proof  of  that  is,  that  nowhere  in 
the  New  Testament  is  there  any  suggestion  of 
the  appointment  of  successors,  as  for  a  succes- 
sion of  elders  and  deacons.  To  change  the  figure, 
special  officers  and  miraculous  gifts  were  as  the 
wooden  frame  under  the  bridge  till  the  arch  is 
completed  and  the  mortar  has  set,  when  the  sup- 
ports are  withdrawn.  When  the  Church  became 
a  fact,  an  organization,  holding  fast  and  holding 


WHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH?         89 

^orth  the  truth,  the  temporary  stays  were  taken 
away. 

1.  The  permanent  officers  were  chosen  by 
the  Christian  people.  This  right  of  choice  is 
not  dogmatically  or  formally  stated  because  it 
was  in  tise,  and  is  illustrated  in  the  choice,  by  the 
whole  body  of  the  successor  to  Judas,  and  of  the 
seven  administrators  of  the  church's  bounty — 
(Acts  i:  13-26  and  6:5,6).  On  this  point  I 
refer  with  pleasure  to  Dr.  Jacob's  Ecclesiastical 
Polity  of  the  New  Testament,  in  which  this  view 
is  ably  maintained,  and  it  is  shown  that  (i)  "in 
the  appointment  and  removal  of  the  ministers 
themselves ;  (ii)  in  the  general  edification  and 
discipline  of  the  church  ;  and  (iii)  in  questions 
of  doctrine  and  dogmatic  teaching,  the  laity 
had  a  voice  and  were  able  to  make  it  heard," — 
(p.  147). 

2.  There  was  no  distinction  of  rank  between 
the  Bishop  and  Presbyter  in  the  Apostolic 
Church.  Phil,  (i  :  i)  mentions  only  bishops  and 
deacons.  In  so  prosperous  a  church  were  there 
no  presbyters?  James  (5  :  14)  directs  the  sick 
to  "  send  for  the  elders."  Does  he  ignore 
bishops  ?      No.    he    counts   them    the   same   as 


90  JVIIA  T  IS  AiV  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 

elders.  Proof  of  this  is  found  in  Titus  i  :  5-7 — 
"  For  this  cause  I  left  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou 
shouldst  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting, 
and  ordain  elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had  ap- 
pointed thee.  If  any  be  blameless,  the  hus- 
band of  one  wife,  having  faithful  children  not 
accused  of  riot  or  unruly.  For  a  bishop  must 
be  blameless,  as  the  steward  of  God ;  not  self- 
willed,  not  soon  angry,  not  given  to  wine,  no 
striker,  not  given  to  filthy  lucre." 

If  you  read  in  a  political  work  that  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  must  have  such  and 
snch  "  qualities,  for  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
nation  has  onerous  duties,"  you  would  not 
doubt  that  the  President  and  the  chief  magis- 
trate were  one  and  the  same  person.  Peter  (i, 
Acts  5  :  I,)  and  John  (2  John,  i)  call  themselves 
elders  ;  they  included  the  office  of  bisho^),  or 
overseer,  in  that  of  the  apostle.  So  General 
Grant  might  write  to  the  scattered  officers  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  :  "  The  officers  who  are 
among  you,  I  advise,  who  am  also  an  officer." 
So  when  Paul  sent  for  the  elders  of  Ephesus, 
and  gave  his  counsel  to  them,  he  said  (Acts  20 : 
28),  "take  heed  unto  yourselves  and  to  all  the 


WHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH?         91 

flock  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you 
overseers"  [cpiskopoiis),  bishops,  as  in  Phil  i  :  i. 
So  Gibbon  (ch.  15  of  the  Decline  and  Fall) 
says  of  "  bishops  and  presbyters ;  two  appella- 
tions which,  in  their  first  origin,  appear  to  have 
distinguished  the  same  office,  and  the  same 
order  of  persons.  The  name  of  presbyter  was 
expressive  of  their  age,  or  rather  of  their  gravity 
and  wisdom.  The  title  of  bishop  denoted  their 
inspection  over  the  faith  and  manners  of  the 
Christians  who  were  committed  to  their  pastoral 
care." 

So  Dr.  Jacobs  thinks  it  supported  by  as 
"  strong  historical  evidence  as  such  a  subject  can 
well  demand,  i.  The  only  bishops  mentioned 
in  the  New  Testament  were  simple  presbyters  ; 
the  same  person  being  a  '  bishop' — episkopos, 
i.e,  a  superintendent  or  overseer,  from  his  '  taking 
an  oversight,'  of  his  congregation,  as  is  dis- 
tinctly shown  by  Acts  20,  and  other  passages ; 
and  a  presbyter — presbiUeros^  or  elder,  from  the 
reverence  due  to  age" — (p.  72,  Ecc.  Pol.  of  New 
Testament). 

3.  The  apostles  provided  for  several  elders 
in  each  church.    The  proof  of  this  is  in  Acts  14: 


92  WHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 

23,  where  we  read  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  made 
a  visit  to  the  churches  at  Derbe,  Lystra  and 
Iconium,  "  confirming,"  that  is,  strengthening, 
the  souls  of  the  disciples  ;  "  and  when  they  had 
ordained  them  elders  in  every  church,''  not  an 
elder  in  each  church,  small  as  the  societies 
must  have  been.  The  Church  of  Ephesus  had 
its  "elders"  (Acts  20:  17).  So  had  the  Church 
at  Philippi — Phil  i  :  i,  where  they  are  called 
"bishops.''  On  this  subject  Dr.  Jacobs  says 
"as  in  the  case  of  the  Jewish  synagogues,  so 
in  the  earliest  Christian  churches,  there  was 
usually,  if  not  always,  a  body  or  '  college'  of 
presbyters  at  the  head  of  each  society;''  and 
after  ahuding  to  Jerusalem,  Ephesus,  and 
Philippi  in  proof,  he  adds,  "  while  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  no  recorded  instance  of  a  single 
presbyter  superintending  any  congregation." 
It  is  creditable  to  Dr.  Jacobs,  as  an  Episcopalian, 
that  he  accepts  the  statement  that  the  Bishop's 
diocese  was  the  "  parish  ;"  then  caWed  par oikia, 
whence  we  have  the  word.  Lord  King  (Inquiry 
into  the  Constitution  of  the  Primitive  Church) 
"held  that  the  parish  had  but  one  church  for 


WHAT  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 


93 


three  centuries.  Mission  or  branch  congrega- 
tions, however,  grew  up  comparatively  early.''* 
4.  Ordination  was  the  act  of  a  body  of 
officers,  not  of  one.  The  evidence  of  this  is  in 
Acts  6  :  6 — "They  laid  their  hands  on  them  ;" 
13:1,  3 — "and  laid  their  hands  on  them;"  and  i 
Tim  4:  14 — "  with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
the  presbytery."  If  in  any  case  the  command 
to  ordain  is  given  by  an  apostle  to  a  single 
individual,  as  in  Titus  i :  5,  we  are  bound  to  sup- 
pose he  would  interpret  the  order  in  accordance 
with  common  practice,  and  understand  that  he 
was  to  see  to  it  that  elders  be  ordained.  On  this 
subject  Dr.  Jacobs  is  clear  and  explicit.  "  But 
when  fresh  ministers  were  ordained  in  an 
already  constituted  Church,  the  presbyters 
there  present  took  part  in  an  apostle's  ordina- 
tion by  laying  their  hands  with  him  on  those 
who  were  ordained ;  a  custom  which  was  pre- 
served in  the  later  church,  and  has  been  retained 
even  to  the  present  day,  in  some  slight  respect, 
in  our  own,''  /.  r.,  the  English  Episcopal — (p.  1 1 1, 

*  Sir  Peter  King,  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  brought  to 
his  inquiry  great  learning  and  a  clear  judicial  faculty,  and  his 
work  deserves  more  attention  than  it  has  received. 


94  JVHA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 

Ecc.  Pol.  of  the  New  Testament).  There  is  no 
case  of  ordination  by  an  individual  presbyter  in 
the  Scriptures.* 

5.  The  last  principle  embodied  in  the 
apostolic  church  is  the  right  to  refer  difficulties 
to  the  assembled  deputies  of  the  churches.  A 
difference  of  opinion  rose  at  Antioch,  and  crea- 
ted   trouble.     The    resident    presbyter   did  not 

*  On  this  subject  I  deem  it  due  to  Dr.  Jacobs  to  quote  his 
deliberate  estimate  of  his  own  and  other  churches,  in  the  matter 
of  ordination :  "  The  churches  which,  liice  our  own,  have  re- 
tained the  Episcopate  and  Episcopal  ordination,  may  reasona- 
bly prefer  this  form  of  government ;  and  justly  consider  that  it 
is  one  of  all  but  apostolic  antiquity,  and  one  which  having  been 
found  desirable,  or  even  necessary,  after  the  departure  of  the 
apostles, — and  having  been  well  tried  by  long  experience, — 
should  never  lightly  be  given  up.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
government  and  the  ordinations  of  Presbyterian  churches  are 
just  as  valid,  scriptural  and  apostolic  as  our  own  :  and  when  cir- 
cumstances made  it  necessary  or  expedient,  it  was  quite  lawful 
for  them  to  adopt  this  form  of  church  polity,  and,  having  found 
it  effective,  to  retain  it."     (Ecc.  Pol.  of  the  New  Testament,  p. 

This  is  a  singular  statement  in  many  respects.  Dr.  Jacobs 
establishes  every  feature  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  apostolic, 
in  this  book,  and  declares  his  own  government  to  be  "  of  all  but 
apostolic  antiquity."  The  Presbyterian  being  of  apostolic 
antiquity,  it  might  well  be  "  lawful  to  adopt  it!"  Nor  is  it 
saying  much  to  declare  it  as  apostolical  as  that  which  is  "of  all 
hut  apostolical  antiquity."  But  if  it  is,  as  described,  why  re- 
ordain  a  Presbyterian  minister  ? 


WIIA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH?         ^5 

settle  it  ;  but  certain  of  the  church  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  and  laid  the  matter  before  the  apos- 
tles and  elders.  And  there  was  deliberation 
among  them,  and  a  decision  reached  and  em- 
■bodied  in  letters  from  the  "  apostles,  elders 
and  brethren,''  and  these  were  delivered  to  the 
churches  of  the  Gentiles  in  the  various  cities. 
(See  Acts  15,  and  16:  4.)  The  dispute  could 
not  be  settled  at  Antioch :  it  was  carried  up  to 
an  assembly  of  apostles  and  elders,  debated, 
decided  on,  published,  and  held  to  bind  all  the 
parties  concerned.  An  apostolic  church  will 
have  this  check  on  local  ambition,  and  guaran- 
tee for  the  freedom  of  the  individual  believer.* 

One  thing  is  evident  throughout  these  ar- 
rangements, namely,  the  dependence  of  the 
whole  on  Christ.  He  qualifies  and  sends  the 
apostles.  Under  the  guidance  of  His  spirit,  they 
give  directions  to  the  churches.  Matters  of  lo- 
cal detail  will  be,  it  is  presumed,  settled  accord- 

*  Readers  who  have  opportunity  to  consult  "  Witherow's 
Apostolic  Church"  will  find  these  principles  clearly  put,  and 
their  application  to  existing  churches  frankly  and  candidly  made. 
The  book  is  specially  adapted  to  Great  Britain,  but  it  is  of  in- 
terest and  value  anywhere.  We  cheerfully  acknowledge  our 
obligation  to  it. 


96 


WNA  T  IS  AN  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH? 


ing  to  circumstances,  judged  of  by  Christian 
wisdom,  but  the  main  and  leading  principles  of 
government  are  seen  in  action,  or  set  in  motion, 
and  the  chuich  is  made  a  free,  self-governing 
body,  independent  of  any  creature  outside,  and 
dependent  on  Christ  Jesus  exalted,  king  and 
head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  "  which  is 
his  body,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in 
all  "— (Eph.  1 :  23). 


IS    CHRISTIANITY    TO    BE    MODERN- 
IZED? 


E  ought  to  be  willing  to  credit  science 
with  any  corrections  it  has  effected  in 
our  conceptions,  or  representations  of 
reHgious,  or  supposed  rehgious,  truth. 
Science  is  not  the  ahen  rival,  but  the  child  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  she  ought  not  to  be  "without  natu- 
ral affection."  Religion  can  afford  to  rejoice  in 
the  real  servi«ces  of  science,  even  while  reproving 
and  regretting  the  wilfulness  of  her  offspring. 
All  good  men  must  wish  the  heart  of  the  child 
to  be  turned  to  the  parent :  for  their  permanent 
alienation  brings  "a  curse  upon  the  earth." 

With  the  most  cordial  desire  to  yield  to  sci- 
ence all  the  honor  she  has  earned  in  this  field, 
we    can    only    find    one    specific    amendment    in 


98  ^S  CHRISTIANITY 

religious  thought  *  and  that  in  the  field  of  as- 
tronomy, curiously  enough,  the  oldest  of  the 
sciences.  No  one  is  interested  in  denying  that 
the  earth  was  long  regarded  by  Christians  as 
the  centre  of  the  solar  system :  and  that  the 
Bible  was  read  and  understood  in  harmony  with 
this  view.  Even  Turretine  labors  to  defend  it 
from  the  Scriptures,  with  arguments  that  are 
now  obsolete. 

But  so  soon  as  the  evidence  of  the  Coperni- 
can  system  was  made  clear,  religion  accepted  it. 
Men  went  to  their  Bibles,  re-examined  them  ; 
found  that  they  had  been  reading  them  in  the 
light  of  a  defective  and  mistaken  science  ;  that 
they  were  not  obliged  by  anything  in  their  Bi- 
bles so  to  read  them ;  that  the  Scripture  fitted 
the  true  theory,  and  gave  new  proof  of  its  fitness 
for  all  ages  and  lands.  But  is  there  any  strong 
presumption  in  favor  of  science  as  against  relig- 
ion, in  this  circumstance?  It  does  not  so  ap- 
pear to  us.  For  the  precise  fact  is — not  that 
from  their  very  beginnings  science  stood  clearly 
on  the  truth,  and  religion  in  the  error,  but  that 

*  Strictly  speaking,  not  directly  religious,  not  so  much  sacra, 
as  circa  sacra. 


TO  BE  MODERNIZED?  gg 

they  stood  together  in  the  error ;  nay,  more, 
that  reHgion  was  placed,  and  gratuitously  placed, 
in  the  wrong,  by  science,  and  only  made  the 
correction  less  rapidly  than  science  from  its 
being — most  properly  by  its  very  nature — a 
more  conservative  force  than  science. 

We  are  not  aware  of  any  parallel  to  this  in 
the  history  of  thought  :  it  is  the  one,  solitary 
achievement  in  this  line,  and  we  submit  that 
more  has  been  made  of  it  than  the  facts  warrant. 
Galileo  did  not  stand  up  as  the  representative 
of  Science  versus  Religion ;  he  was  as  much 
against  the  science  of  his  time  as  against  its 
religion.  But  when  the  times  had  come  up  to 
him,  and  his  victory  was  assured,  science  did 
what  has  been  all  too  often  done  in  the  world — 
she  applauded  the  winning  side,  and  declared  it 
had  always  been  her  side. 

The  demands  made  on  the  strength  of  this 
single  feat  we  regard  as  excessive.  We  think, 
moreover,  that  no  considerable  part  of  them  is 
yet  substantiated.  Let  us  run  over  the  princi- 
pal of  these  requirements. 

(i.)  It  is  urged  that  the  fixed,  stable  charac- 


100  ^3  CHRISTIANITY 

ter  of  all  physical  laws  precludes  the  very  idea 
of  miracles ;  and  Christians  are  informed  that 
they  must  abandon  this  element  in  their  think- 
ing. But  the  claim  has  not  been  so  established 
in  behalf  of  law,  as  to  make  it  both  rule  and 
executive,  both  modus  operandi  and  operator. 
The  philosophers  have  bewildered  themselves 
by  a  phrase — "  reign  of  law,''  as  if  Deity  had 
made  the  world,  framed  the  laws,  and  then  ab- 
dicated absolutely  in  their  favor.  When  it  is  to 
be  settled  whether  or  not  He  has  done  this,  the 
examination  must  run  over  more  than  the  phys- 
ical field.  We  will  not  permit  scientists  to  as- 
sume that  nothing  is  known  of  God,  but  through 
their  investigations.  We  will  not  admit  that 
they  have  exhausted  the  evidence  on  this  sub- 
ject: nor  that  they  have  made  their  positions 
good  on  their  own  narrow  field.  That  the  Cre- 
ator should  pass  out  of  the  condition  of  absolute 
repose,  and  frame  a  world  and  laws,  is  as  hard 
to  account  for,  on  their  principles,  as  that  He 
should  modify  His  modes  of  operation.  At 
present,  a  certain  class  of  scientists  appears  to 
be  unconsciously  fulfilling  prophecy,  and  taking 
a   place  with    the  scoffers  of  Peter,  who  ques- 


TO  BE  MODERNIZED?  iqi 

tion  the  possibility  of  the  Lord's  second  com- 
ing, since  "  all  things  continue  as  they  were 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation  " — (ll.  Pet. 
3:4). 

(2.)  Prophecy  is  simply  a  miracle  of  knowl- 
edge, and  its  abandonment  is  called  for  as  an 
essential  of  revelation.  We  are  asked  to  place 
the  prophecies  of  Scripture  among  the  happy 
hits  and  "  guesses  at  truth,"  or  to  explain  them 
by  clairvoyance.  Good,  devout,  and  intelligent 
as  was  Chevalier  Bunsen,  he  thought  the  proph- 
ecies might  be  accounted  for  by  clairvoyance. 
Joseph  was  a  clear-sighted  Hebrew  boy,  and  a 
good  medium.  This  is  a  fair  illustration  of  the 
exaggerated  estimate  formed  of  new  and  un- 
tried sciences  by  their  enthusiastic  lovers.  The 
world  has  had  time  to  test  clairvoyance,  and  to 
settle  that  for  all  practical  purposes  a  sharp  de- 
tective sees  more  beneath  the  surface  than  all 
the  Spiritualists  of  a  continent.  So  far  from 
resiling  from  the  prophecies — though  Eichhorn 
tries  by  destructive  criticism  to  make  out  what 
Porphyry  long  ago  argued,  a  priori^  with  equal 
success — we  regard  the  volume  of  evidence  fur- 


102  -^-S-  CHRISTIANITY 

nished  by  them  as   ever  accumulating  with  the 
lapse  of  time  and  the  march  of  events. 

(3.)  Closely  connected  with  prophecy  is  the 
question  of  inspiration,  concerning  which  we 
are  invited  to  reform  our  ideas.  Inspiration  of 
some  sort  is  not  denied;  but  it  is  made  out  to 
be  in  kind  the  same  to  the  bards  of  the  Bible 
and  the  bard  of  Avon,  to  Isaiah  as  to  Homer. 
This  idea  gained  some  show  of  Christian  support 
from  those  "  mannikin  traitors"  to  Christian 
truth,  the  "  Essayists  and  Reviewers,"  whose 
volume  agitated  England  some  ten  or  twelve 
years  ago,  and  gave  so  much  aid  and  comfort  to 
multitudes  who  never  read  it,  and,  reading, 
could  not  have  understood  it,  but  who  had  a 
general  impression  that  seven  or  eight  learned 
English  churchmen  had  gone  bodily  into  the 
ranks  of  infidelity.  But  no  case  has  been 
made  out  against  the  Catholic  view  of  inspira- 
tion ;  no  proof  has  been  given  that  it  is  identical 
in  kind  with  the  genius  of-  Dante  or  Burns  ;  and 
it  appears  to  us  that,  rightly  considered,  the 
very  progress  of  science  is  supplying  argu- 
ments   for   supernatural   inspiration.     It   ought 


TO  BE  MODERNIZED?  103 

to  strike  thoughtful  men  as  remarkable  that 
while  the  ancient  standard  works  in  philos- 
ophy, astronomy,  chemistry,  anatomy,  medi- 
cine, geography,  are  all  obsolete,  and  of  interest 
only  as  literary  curiosities,  the  Pentateuch  and 
the  prophets  never  had  so  many  devout  stu- 
dents as  in  this  year  1873,  and  never  had  so 
many  corroborative  evidences ;  Moabite  stones, 
Palestine  explorations,  and  Assyrian  records 
rising  from  the  grave  of  ages  to  testify  to  the 
inspired  truth  of  Revelation. 

(4.)  The  unity  of  the  race  is  impugned,  and 
we  are  informed  that  the  popular  idea  of  all 
men  descending  from  a  single  pair  cannot  stand 
the  examination  of  the  ethnologists.  Well, 
Ethnology  is  a  very  juvenile  science,  and  its 
staunchest  friends,  like  Sir  John  Lubbock,  have 
all  the  juvenile  tendencies  to  swallow  remark- 
able stories  on  slender  evidence.  We  must  say 
that  this  form  of  scientific  assault  awakens  in  us 
less  respect  than  almost  any  other.  Anatomy, 
physiology,  philology,  psychology — all  combine 
in  testifying  that  all  men  may  be  of  one  origin. 
There  is  not  a  bone,  an  artery,  a  faculty,  an  apti- 


104 


75  CHRISTIANITY 


tude,  a  nerve,  in  the  European  that  has  not  its 
counterpart  all  over  the  earth.  Science  says  all 
the  races  may  be  one ;  theology  says  they  are, 
and  receives  and  offers  a  history  of  their  crea- 
tion, fall,  and  decay ;  and  the  ethnologists,  hav- 
ing found  the  specimens  in  various  stages  of  de- 
cay, and  been  informed  by  wandering  travellers 
of  odd  and  curious  exceptions,  deny  the  unity. 
It  would  be  almost  as  scientific  to  deny  to  the 
mother  of  an  Albino  that  he  is  her  child,  on  the 
ground  that  he  is  so  unlike  the  handsome 
brunettes,  or  the  dark-skinned  stripling,  who  also 
call  her  mother.  Till  the  evidence  on  this  sub- 
ject assumes  a  different  form,  we  shall  hold  by 
the  position  of  a  most  intelligent  traveller  of 
old,  that  God  "hath  made  of  one  blood  all  na- 
tions of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth" — (Acts  17:  2'). 

(5.)  Akin  to  this,  is  the  antiquity  of  the  race, 
on  which,  also,  we  are  counselled  to  shift  our 
ground.  Nowhere,  it  seems  to  me,  within 
one's  own  memory,  has  a  science  had  so  many 
admonitions  to  be  clothed  with  humility  as  in 
this  line  of  inquiry.     Have  we   not  gone  over, 


TO  BE  MODERNIZED?  105 

and  gone  past,  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  uniformitarian 
theory  ?  Have  we  not  had  flint  arrow-heads  in 
profusion — without,  however,  any  human  re- 
mains beside  them,  or  anything  to  identify  man 
with  them  ?  But  the  patient  men  of  science 
are  doing  what  they  will  not  let  us  do — they 
are  confidently  expecting  that  the  man,  or,  at 
least,  something  human,  will  "  turn  up."  For  it 
is  incredible  that  races  should  have  lived,  and 
died,  and  spent  all  their  time  in  chipping  flints 
into  arrow-heads  and  knives,  leaving  so  many  of 
them  that  you  can  get  them  in  places  by  the 
bushel,  and  not  leaving  one  other  relic  of  any 
kind  whatever  !  The  pre-adamite  Mississippian 
who  left  his  bone,  the  os-innominattim^  at 
Natchez,  and  with  whom,  at  least,  one  of  his 
bones,  we  are  so  familiar,  was  more  considerate  ; 
but  the  fact  that,  instead  of  having  lain  a  hun- 
dred thousand  years  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff,  his 
bone  probably  fell  from  the  top  of  it,  destroyed 
his  value.  But  we  cannot  linger  among  the 
delusions  of  science.  Have  we  not  been  to  the 
red  Indians  at  New  Orleans;  to  the  bone-caves 
of  Aurignac  ;  to  the  lake-dwellings  of  Switzer- 
land; to  the   mud  of  the  Nile,  and  back  to  the 


Io6  ^S  CHRISTIANITY 

shores  of  the  Frith  of  Forth  ?  and  everywhere 
there  has  been  lacking  some  hnk  to  prove  that 
human  beings  were  there  for  Lyell's  100,000 
years,  or  Dr.  Dowler's  50,000,  or  even  Bunsen's 
14,000,  before  Adam.  One  feels  a  kind  of  sym- 
pathy for  the  interesting  men  thus  occupied. 
Under  the  town  of  Leith  they  find  some  de- 
lightfully old  human  remains ;  but  they  have 
hardly  settled  their  probable  uses  till  a  "  canny 
Scot "  digs  deeper,  and  brings  up  Roman  pot- 
tery, for  they  are  liable  to  all  the  tricks  to 
which  travellers  are  proverbially  exposed. 
Speaking  of  the  law  of  demand  and  supply  in 
the  matter  of  relics,  an  intelligent  writer  says: 
"  The  Arabs  are  notorious  sinners  in  this  re- 
spect ;  and  if  you  offered  an  adequate  reward 
for  the  skull  of  Sesostris,  or  for  a  wheel  from 
Pharaoh's  chariot,  they  would  pretend  to  find 
the  former  in  some  mummy-pit,  or  to  fish  up 
the  latter  from  the  Red  Sea." 

We  make  two  observations  in  concluding 
this  part  of  the  subject.  The  first  is,  that  no 
adequate  evidence  yet  appears  of  races  of  men 
before    Adam  ;    and,    secondly,    if     they    were 


TO  BE  MODERNIZED?  107 

proved,  no  more  violent  change  would  ensue  in 
religious  thinking  than  from  the  adoption  of 
the  Copernican  astronomy.  The  Bible  is  for 
the  race  of  Adam,  and  had  no  more  to  do  with 
the  supposed  owners  of  ape-like  crania,  than 
with  the  tastes  and  habits  of  the  Plesiosaurus. 

Finally,  we  are  required  to  modify  our  views 
of  Geology.  An  error  having  been  rectified  in 
the  heavens  above,  our  attention  is  now  turned 
to  the  earth  beneath.  That  geologists'  sober 
declarations  can  be  held  consistently  with  un- 
wavering faith  in  the  Bible  is  proved  by  the 
case  of  Kurtz  and  Hugh  Miller  in  Europe,  and 
Professors  Guyot  and  Dana  on  this  Continent, 
who  accept  one  theory ;  and  the  case  of  Buck- 
land,  Whewell  and  Chalmers,  who  accepted  an- 
other. The  Bible  is  to  geology  as  it  was  to  as- 
tronomy. That  some  modification  of  02ir  read- 
ing of  the  six  days*  work  should  follow,  however, 
we  are  not  prepared  to  deny.  And  this  leads 
to  the  notice  of  an  article  in  the  Contemporary 
Review  for  December,  1872,  on  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  in  which  a  revision  is  urged 
in  the  interests  of  broader  thinking.     Little  is 


I08  ^S  CHRISTIANITY 

added  by  the  writer  to  our  stock  of  knowledge 
as  to  the  controversial  temper  of  the  times ;  we 
always  knew  that  there  were  several  excellent 
men  in  England  who  were  not  in  the  Assem- 
bly ;  but  it  is  a  surprise  to  be  told  that  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Confession,  as  preached  by  Twisse 
or  Rutherford,  would  now  be  listened  to  with 
execration  in  England  or  Scotland.  The  fact  is, 
that  the  most  effective  and  appreciated  preach- 
ers, as  Spurgeon  in  London,  Candlish  in  Edin- 
burgh, with  a  large  list  of  less  distinguished 
men  throughout  Great  Britain,  are  distinctively 
the  exponents  of  the  Westminster  Theology. 

In  searching  for  the  specific  points  on  which 
this  writer  rests  his  opinion,  we  can  find  abso- 
lutely nothing  except  the  doctrine  of  "  reproba- 
tion," a  term  never  once  used  in  the  Confession, 
or  Catechisms,  and  the  belief — not  in  the  Con- 
fession, he  admits,  but  in  its  framers'  minds — 
regarding  the  "  span-long"  infants.  How  well 
the  writer  is  fitted,  by  nice  theological  discrim- 
ination, to  direct  on  the  subject  of  "the  de- 
crees," appears  from  the  fact  that  he  either  does 
not  know,  or  does  not  notice,  the  distinction 
made  by  the  Westminster  divines  between  pre. 


TO  BE  MODERNIZED?  109 

destination  as  a  positive  decree  conferring  ever- 
lasting life,  and  forming  the  basis  of  salvation 
by  grace,  and  forcordiiiation,  a  decree  of  arrange- 
ment condemning  the  guilty  to  death,  and  form- 
ing a  basis  for  judicial  procedure  founded  on 
man's  character.*  He  is  aware,  however,  that 
Sir  William  Hamilton  and  Principal  Cunning- 
ham held  that  both  Calvin  and  the  Westminster 
divines  considered  the  human  will  free  in  the 
philosophic  sense ;  but  on  his  own  authority,  and 
without  assigning  reasons,  he  modestly  contra- 
dicts them.  both.  And,  curiously  enough,  he 
entirely  omits  the  point  where  the  confession 
of  faith  is  vulnerable  to  the  geologist,  namely,  in 
the  statement  (which  explains  words  from  the 
Fourth  Commandment)  to  the  effect  that  God 
made  all  things,  out  of  nothing,  in  six  days. 
Now  what  should  be  done  with  this  statement  ? 
In  Genesis  l  :  i,  the  Hebrew  uses  the  word  bara, 
but  for  other  and  subsequent  Divine  acts  it  has 
other  words,  till  it  comes  to  the  making  of  the 
sea-monsters,  and  of  the  man.  The  other  words 
are  "made,"  or  "formed,''  or  "builded,"  out  of 

*  See  Introductory  Essay  to  "  Shaw's  Exposition  of  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,"  by  the  late  Dr.  Hetherington. 


no  IS  CHRIS TIA NITY,  E TC. 

already  existing  material.  Man  is  created  as  to 
being,  formed  as  to  his  body,  viade  as  to  body 
and  soul  in  one  person,  as  in  Isaiah  43  :  7 — "  I 
have  created  him  for  my  glory,  I  have  formed 
him,  yea,  I  have  made  him."  Now  in  the  Fourth 
Commandment — "  for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made 
heaven  and  earth'' — it  is  Jiasah  that  is  used,  not 
bara  ;  so  the  Scriptures  are  consistent  with  them- 
selves, and  not  contradicted  by  Geology.  But 
this  nice  accuracy  of  Scripture,  men  had  no  oc- 
casion to  prove  two  centuries  ago.  Neither 
Science  nor  Religion  had  called  attention  to  it ; 
and  the  Westminster  divines  took  the  current 
language  of  the  times  on  the  point.  Whether 
to  correct  it  would  be  an  adequate  reason  for  a 
Pan-Presbyterian  Council,  or  whether  an  ex- 
planatory note  like  that  which  some  of  the 
Churches  have  as  to  the  civil  magistrate,  would 
suffice,  is  a  fair  subject  for  inquiry,  and  its  set- 
tlement either  way  will  not  materially  affect 
Christendom  ;  but  this  is  the  only  point,  so  far 
as  we  see,  on  which  a  claim  is  sustained  foi 
the  readjustment,  as  it  has  been  pretentiously 
called,  of  Christianity. 


WHAT  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE? 

HE  Bible  is  not  only  consistent  with 
itself  throughout,  but  there  is  a  sur- 
prising continuity  of  representation  in 
its  successive  portions.  Divine  things 
could  only  be  revealed  to  man  in  ways  that  God 
prepared  and  made  intelligible  to  man,  and 
having  once  given  a  symbol,  the  inspiring  spirit 
uses  it  consistently   from  beginning  to  end. 

There  is  obvious  reason  for  this  in  the  nature 
of  things.  If  Euclid  employed  the  word  "  tri- 
angle" to  mean  one  thing  in  his  first  book,  and 
quite  another  in  his  third,  confusion  would  be 
the  result.  It  could  only  bewilder  the  reader  of 
a  book  on  mental  philosophy  to  have  "  sensa- 
tion" or  "  perception"  used  in  one  sense  in  one 
part,  and  another  elsewhere.  On  the  same  prin- 
ciple of  utility  and  adaptation  to  man's  wants 


112         WBA  T  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE  ? 

we  shall  find  that  the  idea  of  a  sign  having  once 
been  given,  the  sign  has  a  uniform  meaning 
throughout  the  word,  modified  Indeed,  possibly, 
by  explanatory  phrases,  precisely  as  we  speak  of 
an  isosceles,  or  an  equilateral  triangle.  This  fea- 
ture of  the  Divine  word  suggests  the  need  of 
search  and  study  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  not  to 
him  who  gives  desultory  attention  to  detached 
fragments,  but  to  him  who  patiently  compares 
part  with  part,  and  comprehends  it  as  a  whole, 
that  the  Bible  yields  up  its  trjcasures. 

In  Gen.  15  :  17,  the  Lord  appears  to  Abraham 
and  enters  into  covenant  with  him.  The  offer- 
ings are  divided  ;  the  patriarch  watches,  and 
waits  till  a  deep  sleep  falls  on  him,  awaking  out 
of  which  in  "  an  horror  of  great  darkness,"  he 
sees  pass  between  the  sundered  portions  "  a 
smoking  furnace  and  a  burning  lamp."  The  God 
of  Abraham  reveals  himself  in  fire. 

When  the  men  to  whom  the  promises  of  the 
covenant  were  given  have  passed  away,  and  the 
time  of  fulfilment  approaches,  another  interview 
with  the  Lord  is  granted.  Now  it  is  at  the  back- 
side of  the  desert,  and  to  Moses.  "  The  angel 
of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a  flame  of  fire, 


WHA  T  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE  ?         113 

out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush  ;  and  he  looked,  and 
behold  the  bush  burned  with  fire,  and  the  bush 
was  not  consumed'' — (Exod.  3  :  2).  The  angel 
here  is  divine ;  for  "  the  Lord"  is  the  speaker 
in  verse  four  ;  His  presence  made  "  holy  ground" 
(v.  5).  It  is  the  God  of  Abraham  remembering 
and  preparing  to  fulfil  the  promise.  He  shows 
himself  in  fire,  but  with  new  surroundings  ;  not 
in  a  word  only,  which  is  "  as  a  light  shining  in  a 
dark  place,"  but  as  a  God  present  with  a  poor, 
lowly,  and  oppressed,  but  indestructible  people — 
indestructible  because  He,  the  indestructible,  is 
in  and  with  them. 

The  people,  having  come  out  of  Egypt,  must 
receive  a  law.  Sinai  is  the  chosen  spot,  the 
prepared  amphitheatre  for  a  great  assembly. 
It  "  was  altogether  on  a  smoke,  because  the 
Lord  descended  upon  it  in  fire,  and  the  smoke 
thereof  ascended  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace,  and 
the  whole  mount  quaked  greatly '' — (Ex.  19:  18). 
Here  is  the  God  of  Abraham  and  of  Moses.  And 
what  a  view  of  the  Lord's  gracious  presence  with 
the  people  is  given  when  that  same  august  sym- 
bol stoops  over  the  tabernacle ;  "  for  the  cloud 
of  the  Lord  was  upon  the  tabernacle  by  day,  and 
8 


1 14         WHA  T  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE  ? 

fire  was  on  it  by  night,  in  the  sight  of  all  the 
house  of  Israel,  throughout  all  their  journeys." 
(Exod.  40  :  38.)  There  is  mercy  with  the  Lord  : 
there  is  also  judgment.  When  Nadab  and  Abihu 
profaned  His  altar,  "  there  went  out  fire  from  the 
Lord  and  devoured  them" — (Lev.  lo:  2).  So,  to 
punish  this  murmuring  people  (Numb.  ii:i), 
"  the  fire  of  the  Lord  burnt  among  them  at  Ta- 
berah."  To  this,  probably,  the  allusion  is  made 
in  Deut.  4 :  24 — "  for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  con- 
suming fire,  even  a  jealous  God."  In  the  days 
of  the  Judges,  the  heart  of  Gideon  is  moved  to 
the  struggle  with  Midian  by  a  Divine  revelation  : 
his  sacrifice  lies  on  the  rock,  and  the  angel's  staff 
touches  it,  "  and  there  rose  up  fire  out  of  the 
rock  and  consumed  it" — (Judges  6:  21).  There 
was  natural  fitness  in  Elijah's  challenge  to  the. 
priests  of  Baal  (i  Kings  18  :  24):  "  and  the  God 
that  answereth  by  fire,  let  him  be  God."  "  A 
great  cloud,  and  a  fire  infolding  itself,"  introduces 
the  visions  of  Ezekiel — (i  :  4). 

It  is  an  extremely  improbable  thing  that 
these  harmonious  representations,  running  over 
a  thousand  years,  should  be  accidental  coinci- 
dences.    There  are  natural  resemblance,  which 


WHA  T  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE?         i  j  5 

might  account  for  some  vivid  figures  in  the 
prophets,  such  as  "the  wall  of  fire"  around 
God's  people  in  Zech.  2:  5, — or  the  "refiner's 
fire"  of  Malachi ;  but  they  would  not  account 
for  this  continuous  representation  of  the  Lord. 
Possibly  there  may  be  more  reference  to  this 
mode  of  Divine  appearance  in  some  of  the 
prophetic  allusions  than  at  first  sight  appears. 
The  question  of  Isaiah  33  :  14 — "  Who  among 
us  shall  dwell  with  the  devouring  fire  ?  who 
among  us  shall  dwell  with  the  everlasting  burn- 
ings?" may  be  a  parallel  to  the  question  of 
Psalm  15:  I—"  Lord,  who  shall  abide  in  thy 
tabernacle?  who  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill  ?" 
The  answer  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  given 
to  the  questions  of  Isaiah.  If  this  be  so,  the 
"  devouring  (or  consuming)  fire"  and  the  "  ever- 
lasting burnings"  are  the  symbolic  designations 
of  that  Deity  whose  work  of  judgment  on  As- 
syria suggested  the  question  and  the  form  of  it. 
The  point  of  it  then  is :  "  Who  among  us  shall 
be  meet  to  dwell  with  this  just  and  righteous 
God  ?  "  Then  it  is  not  penal  flames,  but  the 
glories  of  Heaven  the  alarmed  inquirer  thinks 
of.     Like  Peter,  when  the   miracle  revealed  the 


Il6         WHAT  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE? 

Divine  to  him,  and  compelled  him  to  say, 
"  Depart  from  me  for  I  am  a  sinful  man, 
O  Lord,"  so  this  judgment  on  Assyria  inspires 
a  new  and  keen  sense  of  Divine  holiness  in  the 
reflecting   Hebrew. 

Now,  we  are  prepared  to  look  at  the  New 
Testament  allusions  to  this  significant  symbol. 
In  Matt.  3:  II,  the  Baptist  contrasts  himself 
with  the  coming  Messiah,  mightier  than  he,  and 
whose  shoes  he  was  not  worthy  to  bear.  "  He 
shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
(with)  fire." 

Two  interpretations  have  been  put  upon 
these  words.  According  to  one,  the  idea  is,  He 
shall  baptize  those  who  receive  Him  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  ;  and  on  those  who  reject  Him,  will 
send  the  fire  of  His  wrath.  High  names  can  be 
quoted  for  this  rendering,  from  the  fathers 
downward.  And  it  is  true  that  the  symbol  has 
this  felicity,  that  it  can  represent,  and  has  rep- 
resented, as  with  Nadab,  and  Abihu,  and  at 
Taberah,  that  side  of  the  Divine  character  on 
which  justice  is  seen  in  operation.  But  yet 
the  fi  •c-baptism  is  not  the  alternative,  but  the 
explanation  of  the  baptism  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 


WHA  T  IS  THE  BAP  TISM  OF  FIRE  ?         ny 

It  is  not  "or,"  but  "and."  This  view  is  founded 
on  truths  elsewhere  taught  in  Scripture  :  but 
it  is  not  the  truth  of  this  passage.  The  second 
explanation,  therefore,  and  which  we  adopt,  is 
that  the  Divine  Spirit  will  be  given  abundantly 
to  men  under  the  symbol  which  disclosed  God 
to  His  people  from  the  days  of  Abraham  down- 
ward. It  is  the  same  Almighty  Power  who 
rested  on  the  tabernacle,  was  in  the  shekinah, 
who  in  ampler  manifestation  comes  to  the  Israel 
of  the  New  Testament  in  fulfilment  of  Isaiah's 
prediction — (4  :  5) — "  And  th-e  Lord  will  create 
upon  every  dwelling-place  of  Mount  Zion,  and 
upon  her  assemblies,  a  cloud  and  smoke  by  day, 
and  the  shining  of  a  flaming  fire  by  night :  for 
upon  all  the  glory  s/ia//  be  a  defence.'' 

That  this,  and  not  mere  judgment,  is  the 
meaning,  appears  from  our  Lord's  reference  to 
the  same  future  transaction  :  "  I  am  come  to 
send  fire  on  the  earth  ;  and  what  will  I,  if  it  be 
already  kindled?" — (Luke  12:  49).  The  fire 
here  is  not  indeed  the  immediate  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  but  the  ferment,  disputing,  strife, 
and  division  amonsr  men   to  which  His  working 


1 18  WHA  T  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE? 

gives  rise,  and  which  is  essential  to  purity  by 
the  separation  of  the  evil  from  the  good. 

At  Pentecost  it  was  tongues  of  fire  that  de- 
scended on  the  disciples.  Then  the  strife*  and 
the  separation  began.  The  penetrating  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  rested  on  God's  people.  A 
new  energy  is  given  them.  They  are  cleansed 
and  transformed.  They  are  only  men  on  the 
earth,  but  they  have  come  into  living  connec- 
tion with  "  the  Seven  Spirits  of  God  "  (the  all- 
perfect  Spirit)  symbolised  (Rev.  4:  5)  by  the 
"  seven  lamps  of  fire  burning  before  the  throne." 

In  the  plainest  words,  then,  that  we  can  use, 
the  baptism  of  fire  is  the  abundant  giving  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  disciples  that  they  may  be  quick- 
ened, empowered,  purified,  and  fitted  to  spread 
His  truth.  And  concerning  this  indispensable 
blessing,  there  are  the  following  noticeable 
points : 

I,  The  spirit  comes  from  Jesus,  and  for  His 
sake.  He  baptizes  with  the  Holy  Ghost ;  He 
sends  the  Comforter ;  He  sends  the  tongues  as 
of  fire.  This  gift  had  never  come  to  the  world, 
if  Christ  had  not  come  ;  it  will  never  come  to 
you,  unless  you  receive  Christ.     So  we   do   not 


WHAT  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE? 


119 


preach  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  Christ.  We  sum- 
mon men  to  Him  that  they  may  receive  from 
Him  this  blessing.  And  when  they  do,  it  is  not 
merely  that  Christian  truth  by  itself  has  a  bene- 
ficial influence  on  them ;  but  the  Christian  truth 
is  the  means  the  Holy  Ghost  employs  for  chang 
ing  and  elevating  them.  So  we  teach  the  truth, 
and  pray  for  the  spirit.  "We  prophesy  to  the 
dry  bones,"  and  "  we  prophesy  to  the  winds" — • 
(Ezek.  37  :  4,  9). 

2.  As  fire  makes  heat,  so  the  Holy  Ghost 
brings  warmth  into  the  soul  and  into  the  church. 
This  is  the  remedy  for  coldness  of  heart,  and 
deadness  of  the  community.  There  has  never 
been  kindled  a  finer  enthusiasm  than  that  which 
glowed  in  the  first  band  of  disciples.  They 
burned  with  zeal.  Set  before  them  such  barriers 
as  persecution  raises — chains,  tortures,  death — 
and  they  exclaim,  "  None  of  these  things  move 
me,"  as  they  rush  on  their  luminous  path. 

3.  There  are  applications  of  heat  that  purify 
and  separate  the  refuse  from  the  pure  metal  as 
nothing  else  can  do.  You  could  not  hammer 
out,  but  you  can  melt  out,  the  iron  from  the 
massive  ore  that  comes  from  the  mine.     And  so 


I20         WHAT  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  FIRE? 

you  may  ply  men  with  the  superficial  agency  of 
rites  and  forms,  or  the  force  and  restraints  of  law, 
in  vain.  But  let  the  love  of  God  be  shed  abroad 
in  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost  given,  and  the 
evil  goes  to  its  own  place,  and  the  good,  parted 
from  it,  is  increased  and  strengthened.  Vessels 
of  brass  were  ceremonially  cleansed  under  the 
Mosaic  law  by  passing  through  the  fire.  It  is  by 
this  baptism  of  fire  the  vessels  of  mercy  are  puri- 
fied, and  made  meet  for  the  Master's  use. 

4.  And  it  is  not  unworthy  of  notice,  that 
while  God  is  represented  as  fire,  consuming  fire, 
the  same  properties  in  Him  that  warm  and  pu- 
rify, can  burn  up  and  destroy.  The  ark  of  the 
covenant  parted  Jordan,  protected  Israel,  and 
brought  a  blessing  to  Obed-Edom's  house ;  but 
it  smote  the  Philistines  with  judgments,  and 
struck  down  Dagon.  And  so  it  is  with  the 
Divine  Being  himself.  His  mighty  influence 
obeyed,  makes  us  spiritually-minded,  which  is 
life  and  peace  :  striven  against  and  resisted.  He 
becomes  to  men  "  a  consuming  fire." 

God  being  presented  as  ''fire"  in  the  symbols 
of  the  Bible,  and  rejected  by  men,  who,  unable 
to  do  without  some  god,  make  gods  from  their 


WHA  T  IS  THE  BAP  TISM  OF  FIRE  ?         121 

own  fancy,  there  is  a  fearful  emphasis  in  His  lan- 
guage to  such,  in  Isa.  50:  11,  "Behold,  all  ye 
that  kindle  a  fire,  that  compass  yourselves  about 
with  sparks  ;  walk  in  the  light  of  your  fire,  and 
in  the  sparks  that  ye  have  kindled.  This  shall 
ye  have  of  mine  hand,  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sor- 
row." Nor  is  it  inappropriate  to  notice  that,  as 
evil  apes  good,  and  the  devil  tries  to  caricature 
the  Almighty,  the  worship  of  fire — material  fire — 
became  widely  diffused  among  the  early  oriental 
nations.  What  was  a  symbol  of  the  true  whom 
they  forsook,  they  set  up  as  divine,  and  con- 
verted into  a  delusive  and  helpless  idol.  So  they 
*'  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  wor- 
shipped and  served  the  creature  more  than  the 
Creator,  who  is  blessed  forever.  Amen."     (Rom 


HOW  SHALL  A   MAN  BE   JUST   WITH 
GOD? 

HERE  are  two  ways  of  looking  at  this 
question.  There  is  the  strict  and 
proper  theological  topic  of  justification. 
There  is  the  popular  and  practical  idea 
of  being  forgiven  and  received  into  heaven. 
For  the  purposes  of  exact  thought  and  precise 
statement,  some  men  must  treat  the  subject  sci- 
entifically. If  the  Christian  authors  desired  to 
avoid  this  course,  the  opponents  of  the  truth 
compel  them  to  exactness.  True  believers  can 
live  and  die,  and  reach  eternal  rest  without  mas- 
tering this  subject  in  its  theological  aspects; 
but  some  must  be  familiar  with  these  aspects 
for  the  purposes  of  defence  and  instruction. 
The  popular  view  would  not  be.  c'ear,  and  gen- 
erally accepted,  if  the  theological  had  not  been 


HO  IV  SNA LL  A  MA N  BE  JUST  WI Til  GOD  ?     123 

maintained  and  defended.  Luther,  Calvin,  and 
other  Reformers,  had  to  unravel  all  the  tangled 
knots  which  the  Schoolmen  had  drawn ;  had  to 
meet  scholars  on  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures ;  had  to  go  to  the  roots  and  uses  of  words, 
and  the  nature  of  things,  in  order  to  gain  a  firm 
footing  for  "justification  by  faith,"  in  colleges, 
seminaries,  pulpits,  churches  and  literature.  The 
wayfaring  man,  though  a  simpleton,  can  learn — 

"  I'm  a  poor  sinner,  and  nothing  at  all, 
But  Jesus  Christ  is  my  all  in  all," 

and  be  saved  by  it ;  but  to  make  that  way  of  life 
so  plain  to  him,  the  entire  battle  of  the  Refor- 
mation had  to  be  fought,  and  the  learning  and 
skill  and  prayer  of  the  greatest  men  the  world 
ever  saw,  had  to  be  employed.  For  the  way 
was  blocked  up  and  covered  over  with  all  man- 
ner of  rubbish,  some  of  it  altogether  heathen, 
some  of  it  partly  heathen  and  partly  Jewish,  all 
of  it  old,  and  the  solid  mass  had  to  be  removed, 
that  a  straight  path  might  be  made  for  man's 
feet  to  the  Celestial  City. 

We  mention  all  this  because  there  is  a  ten- 
dency to  depreciate  Theology,  to  undervalue 
dogma,  and   to  set  up   as  against   them   "  plain, 


1 24    no  W  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WITH  GOD  ? 

common-sense  ways"  ofjoutting  things.  How- 
ever it  might  have  been  at  one  time,  deep,  exact 
scholarly,  and  learned  statement  of  the  truth 
is  essential  under  God  to  its  maintenance.  And 
for  the  popular  teacher  to  take  a  fling  at  the 
learned,  is  no  more  wise  than  for  the  illiterate 
engine-driver,  who  manages  all  he  has  to  do 
with  a  lever,  to  belittle  the  mechanical  engineer 
who  planned  his  engine,  or  the  civil  engineer 
who  planned  the  road. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  theme  theologically, 
it  is  necessary  to  deal  with  the  divine  attributes 
of  mercy,  justice,  holiness;  with  the  divine  gov- 
ernment by  law  ;  with  the  nature  of  man";  and  the 
work  of  Jesus  Christ.  Such  terms  as  condem- 
nation, sentence,  penalty,  atonement,  satisfac- 
tion, pardon  and  temptation  have  to  be  defined 
and  interpreted  definitely.  The  human  heart  is 
deceitful,  and  an  enormous  amount  of  ingenuity 
— human,  and,  may  we  not  well  believe,  devil- 
ish— has  been  employed  to  obscure  the  light  of 
Scripture,  and  to  bewilder  as  to  God's  "  easy, 
simple,  unincumbered  plan."  Any  man  who 
has  had  occasion  to  look  into  the  controversies 
that  have  raged  on   this  subject  will  not  despise 


HO  W  SUA  LL  A  MA  N  BE  J  US  T  JVI  TIT  GOD  ?    125 

but  respect  the  industry,  zeal,  and  diliijence  of 
those  who  have  stood  on  the  side  of  the  truth, 
and  driven  its  opponents  inch  by  inch  from 
the  field. 

The  popular  and  practical  form  of  this  ques- 
tion immediately  affects  us.  How  can  a  man 
be  just  with  God,  so  as  to  suffer  no  wrath  at 
His  hand,  but  to  be  a  member  of  His  family 
forever?  We  can  look  at  the  human  and  the 
Divine  replies  to  this  demand.  The  human  may 
be  roughly  divided  into  two  classes :  they  who 
do  not  accept  the  Scriptural  method,  as  we 
hold  it,  either  level  up  or  level  down.  In  other 
words,  they  give  to  man  more  than  he  has,  or 
they  give  to  God  less  than  He  has.  In  elevating 
man,  they  proceed  on  the  idea  that  he  has  more 
virtue  than  is  thought ;  he  does  his  best  ;  errors 
are  usually  obedience  to  inclinations  which  na- 
ture gave  him ;  his  good  can  counterbalance  any 
little  admitted  evil.  Or,  if  there  be  a  balance 
against  him  on  the  whole,  his  deep  regret  and 
attempted  amendment  may  be  set  over  against 
it  ;  or  if  this  should  still  be  insufficient,  then  in 
the  next  life  he  can  endure  so  much  as  will  at 
once  be  a  set-off  to  his  sins,  and  the   means  of 


125    ^OW  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WITH  GOD  ? 

his  purification.  It  is  curious  that  what  is 
called  Universalism  and  Romanism  touch  here  ; 
the  behef  that  all  will  eventually  come  to  hap- 
piness, held  by  the  Restorationist  being  an  ex- 
tension of  the  Purgatory  of  Rome,  and  though 
defended  on  different  grounds,  really  having 
their  roots  in  a  common  idea  regarding  God  and 
man.  Purgatory  meets  the  notion  that  many 
people  are  not  good  enough  for  heaven,  not 
bad  enough  for  hell,  and  so  are  purified  in  this 
middle  place.  Restarationism  goes  on  the  plan 
that  permanent  exile  from  God  is  too  severe  a 
punishment  for  God  to  inflict  on  any  man,  and 
so  devises  a  way  in  which  they  shall  all  be 
rescued,  and  even  the  devil  himself,  as  in 
Bailey's  Festus,  become  loyal  and  happy  in 
heaven. 

But  all  this  is  contrary  to  Scripture.  Men 
in  the  Bible  fall,  like  Adam,  resist  the  striving 
of  God's  spirit,  corrupt  the  earth,  rebel,  go 
astray,  speak  lies  in  hypocrisy,  forget  God,  grow 
worse  and  worse,  choose  evil  and  not  good,  cast 
His  words  behind  their  back,  have  their 
minds'  enmity  against  God,  and  are  not  subject 
to  His  law,  neither  indeed  can  be.      The  deline- 


HO  W  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WLTH  GOD  ?    127 

ations  of  Rom.  i  and  ii,  are  entirely  opposed  to 
the  levelling-up  plan.  Every  word  spoken  in 
the  Bible  of  a  new  heart,  of  being  born  again, 
of  conversion,  as  essential  to  the  enjoyment  of 
the  Divine  favor,  is  based  upon  the  hopelessness 
of  man's  state  without  these  conditions.  And 
every  word  spoken  of  the  justice  of  God,  of  the 
unutterable  hatred  He  has  to  sin,  of  the  incom- 
patibility between  Him  and  it,  of  the  judgments 
prepared  for  it,  is  against  this  levelling-up  plan. 
Nothing  m  the  tone  of  Christ  towards  Satan 
and  wicked  men  implies  that  they  are  ever,  at 
how  remote  soever  a  period,  to  be  the  loving 
and  cherished  members  of  His  family,  where  He 
is  to  behold  his  glory.  It  is  not  Paul  only,  but 
Peter  and  John, — nor  these  only,  but  the  Evan- 
gelists and  Christ,  who  are  committed  to  the 
doctrine,  humbling  as  it  is  to  us,  that  man  is 
utterly  and  irretrievably  lost,  except  in  one  way, 
by  the  covenant  of  Christ ;  and  he  who  is  not  in 
that  covenant  abides  in  the  lost  state. 

The  levelling-down  plan  deals  directly  with 
God.  Of  course  it  does  not  own  that  it  levels 
down.       It    claims   rather   to    exalt    Him.      It 


128    ffOlV  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WITH  GOD? 

makes  Him  infinitely  good-natured,  kind-heart- 
ed,„too  merciful  to  punish  severely.  It  repre- 
sents Him  as  looking  on  man's  transgressions  as 
peccadilloes,  seeing  all  the  good,  and  little  of  the 
evil,  indulgent,  having  implanted  those  seeds 
which  a  little  rankly  grown,  are  sins,  and  not 
likely  to  deal  more  severely  with  human  trans- 
gressors than  would  an  excellent  and  magnani- 
mous man. 

In  holding  by  the  Divine  method,  we  rule 
out  much  of  this  absolutely.  As  to  God,  we  hold 
that  man  is  no  proper  judge  of  what  He  ought 
to  do;  that,  apart  from  his  own  darkness  and 
weakness,  he  is  in  the  worst  possible  position  for 
forming  a  true  and  candid  opinion, — ^just  as  the 
prisoners  in  the  jails  are  unfitted  for  dispassion- 
ate judgment  as  to  civil  rights  and  the  criminal 
code. 

As  to  God  and  man  in  their  spiritual  rela- 
tions, we  hold  that  we  can  know  nothing  certainly 
but  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  Word.  All  outside 
that  word  is  guessing  and  speculation ;  and  the 
facts  of  our  life,  we  hold,  are  all  with  the  word. 
It  reveals  what  is  in  us ;  and  its  pictures  of  man, 


HO  IV  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  IVITLL  GOD  ?    129 

as  far  as  we  know,  are  true.  We  may  have  our 
faith  strengthened  by  this  fact  in  the  behef  that 
they  are  equally  true  to  the  truth  of  things, 
where  w^e  cannot  see. 

In  the  shortest  and  most  concise  way,  the 
general  elements  of  the  truth  regarding  justifi- 
cation by  faith  may  be  stated  thus  : 
•  {a.)  Man  as  man,  and  each  person  as  an  indi- 
vidual, being  in  sin,  must  be  under  the  sentence 
of  divine  law  and  the  displeasure  of  a  holy  God. 
Rom.  3  :  19. — "  Now  we  know  that  what  things 
soever  the  law  saith,  it  saith  to  them  Avhoare  un- 
der the  law:  that  every  mouth  may  be  stopped, 
and  all  the  world  become  guilty  before  God." 

(^.)  The  Lord  is  the  judge  of  what  is  to  be 
done  with  us,  either  in  the  way  of  punishing  or 
pardoning.  It  is  with  Him  we  have  to  do.  If 
he  propound  a  way  of  saving  us  we  may  be  sure 
He  will  take  care  of  His  own  rights.  If  it 
pleases  Him  it  ought  to  please  us.  He  knows 
just  what  is  due  to  Himself.  For  us  to  assume 
greater,  or  more  intelligent,  concern  for  the 
credit  of  the  Almighty  than  He  himself  exhib- 
its, is  preposterous.  "  It  is  God  that  justifieth." 
(^.)  Jesus  Christ,  appointed  of' the  Father, 
9 


I  30    HO  W  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WITH  GOD  ? 

and  in  obedience  to  the  Divine  will,  wrought  out 
and  broucfht  in  a  riq-hteousness  which  He  did 
not  require  for  Himself,  which  good  angels  do 
not  need,  which  is  not  offered  to  evil  angels, 
which  is  offered  freely  to  men  for  their  accept- 
ance ;  Rom.  3  :  22. — "  Even  the  righteousness 
of  God  which  is  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all 
and  upon  all  them  that  believe ;  for  there  is 
no  difference."  This  righteousness  of  Christ  is 
promised  by  God,  is  provided  by  Him,  is  accep- 
ted by  Him,  as  ours,  when  we  believe  Christ 
and  accept  it. 

{d)  Accordingly  it  is  "  by  faith  "  in  us,  God 
having  settled  that  our  believing  should  be  the 
means  of  uniting  us  with  Jesus,  and  instrument- 
ally  identifying  us  with  Him.  Conceivably  other 
means  might  have  been  employed  ;  but  this  has 
a  natural  fitness.  It  is  the  opposite  of  man's 
way  of  sinning  at  the  first.  It  is  the  retraction 
of  man's  original  insulting  declaration,  made  not 
in  words,  but  in  effect :  "  God  is  not  to  be  be- 
lieved.'' It  is  the  restoration  of  mutual  confi- 
dence. It  is  the  basts  of  a  good  understanding. 
It  makes  all  spiritual  and  unseen  things  real. 
Heb.  11:   I. — "Now  faith  is  the   substance  of 


HO  W  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WITH  GOD .?    131 

things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen.''  "  He  that  cometh  to  God  must  beheve 
that  he  is,  and  tJiat  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them 
that  diligently  seek  him."  It  is  the  root,  unseen 
itself,  and  deep  in  the  heart,  of  all  the  graces 
that  appear  in  the  life.  As  it  is  strong,  they 
grow  ;  as  it  is  weak  they  languish. 

And  so,  finally,  all  is  of  grace.  God  gives 
the  salvation  of  Christ.  The  sinner  receives  it 
by  faith,  itself  the  gift  of  God.  Faith  lays  hold 
of  a  righteousness  which  man  has  no  more  share 
in  working  out  than  he  has  in  making  the  sun. 
He  is  taken  off  his  own  doing,  powers,  and 
goodness,  and  placed  wholly  on  the  grace  of 
God  and  the  work  of  Christ.  God  gives  Christ. 
The  Son  gives  Himself.  The  Holy  Ghost  testi- 
fies to  Him  and  leads  to  Him.  The  human 
spirit,  quickened,  believing,  at  peace,  is  now  pre- 
pared to  give  glory  to  the  Father,  to  the  Son, 
and  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  believer  has  the 
Son,  and  he  has  life.  He  shall  not  come  unto 
condemnation,  but  is  passed  from  death  unto 
life.  He  has,  like  the  Israelites  on  the  Passover 
evening,  sprinkled  the  blood  on  the  lintels.  He 
may  not   always  see   it   clearly  himself,  but  the 


132    J^OIV  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WITH  GOD  ? 

Lord  sees  it,  and  the  destroying  angel  will  pass 

« 
over  him.     He  has  come  under  the  terms  of  that 

most  glorious  word  —  written  to  the  Church 
which,  alas !  afterwards  placed  herself  at  the 
liead  of  the  great  apostacy — Rom.  ^'.  8-10. — 
"  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth,  and 
in  thy  heart  ;  that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  which 
we  preach  ;  that  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in 
thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from  the 
dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved.  For  with,  the  heart 
man  believeth  unto  righteousness ;  and  with 
the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation." 

This  chapter  is  not  likely  to  catch  the  eye  of 
persons  entirely  careless  regarding  their  souls' 
salvation  ;  but  it  may  be  read  by  some  who  feel 
great  anxiety,  and  are  prepared  to  make  effort, 
if  it  can  be  hopefully  made,  for  this  high  object. 
Their  attention  we  earnestly  call  to  Rom.  x: 
I  -3,  with  its  truth-like  description  of  men  zeal- 
ous, but  uninstructed,  going  about  to  establish 
their  own  righteousness,  and  not  submitting 
themselves  unto  the  righteousness  of  God.  The 
forms  under  which  we  thus  go  about  are  of  sec- 


HO  W  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WITH  GOD  ?    133 

ondary  importance.  They  may  be  those  of 
Romanism,  or  Ritualism,  or  faultless  Orthodoxy, 
or  proud  Rationalism.  We  may  grovel  on  our 
knees  on  the  Santa  Scala,  or  visit  in  the  houses 
of  the  poor.  If  we  are  "  going  about  to  estab- 
lish our  own  righteousness,"  the  zohcrc,  or  the 
hozu,  or  the  duration,  or  the  earnestness,  is  of 
little  account.  The  essentially  vicious  and  viti- 
ating element  is  that  it  is  "  our  own  "  that  we 
are  trying  to  establish.  The  true  departure  is 
taken  when  we  despair  of  our  own  and  submit 
ourselves  to  the  righteousness  of  God.  This  is 
humility.  The  other  plan  has  its  root  in  pride. 
This  is  believing.  The  other  plan  is  unbelief. 
It,  like  Adam,  denies  God's  sincerity  in  offering 
life  as  a  free  gift.  It  declares,  practically,  that 
we  cmi  do  something  good  ;  that  the  whole  na- 
ture is  not  corrupt ;  that  by  works  of  righteous- 
ness which  we  do,  we  can  be  saved.  To  all  souls 
that  have  some  earnestness,  though  it  has  been 
mis-directed,  we  would  re-echo  the  cry  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New,  of  Christ  and  His 
apostles,  of  God  through  all  His  dispensations, 
Isa.  46 :  12,13 — ''Hearken   unto  me,  ye  stout- 


1 34    HO  W  SHALL  A  MAN  BE  JUST  WLTH  GOD  ? 

hearted,  that  are  far  from  righteousness.  I 
bring  near  my  righteousness  ;  I  shall  not  be  far 
off,  and  my  salvation  shall  not  tarry  ;  and  I  will 
place  salvation  in  Zion  for  Israel  my  glory.'' 


HAS    FEAR  A  PLACE  IN    RELIGION? 

O  this  question  many  persons  would 
give  a  prompt  and  decided  No  ;  and,  as 
a  reason,  would  add  :  religion  is  perfect 
love,  and  "  perfect  love  casteth  out 
fear."  Others  would  say  No,  in  a  different 
form.  Heathenism,  they  would  say,  is  a  religion 
of  fear  ;  Christianity  has  expelled  all  that,  and 
revealed  a  God  of  love.  Others  still  would  say 
that  the  Old  Testament  dealt  much  in  fear  ;  the 
New  Testament  brings  the  Gospel  of  peace. 

The  form  of  our  question  is  to  be  noticed. 
It  does  not  respect  one  stage  only  of  the  Chris- 
tian life ;  it  does  not  look  to  the  "  perfect 
peace"  of  saints.  It  asks  if  fear  has  a  place  zn 
religion^  in  that  entire  experience  through  which 
human  hearts  come  from  the  uncontrolled  sway 
of  sin,  to  happy  fellowship  with  God.     If  it  has, 


136 


HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 


as  we  believe,  we  wish  to  ascertain  its  place  and 
purpose. 

Let  us  look  at  some  forms  of  religious  ex- 
perience, and  to  be  sure  that  they  are  correctly 
described  to  us,  let  us  find  them  in  the  Bible. 
The  jailor  at  Philippi,  under  very  complex  feel- 
ing probably,  but  certainly  with  fear,  as  a  part 
of  it,  "  came  trembling,  and  fell  down  before 
Paul  and  Silas"  with  the  question,  "What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? "  He  had  seen  evi- 
dence of  irresistible  power.  He  was  impressed 
by  the  proofs  of  a  present  Deity.  Nearness  to 
Him  threw  him  back  on  himself,  and  suggested 
danger,  quite  different  from  the  danger  arising 
to  him  from  apparent  neglect  of  duty.  He  was 
afraid,  and  had  a  right  to  be  afraid.  It  would 
have  been  irrational,  criminal  folly,  to  be  other- 
wise. A  light  or  vacant  mind  in  such  circum- 
stances would  have  raised  a  doubt  of  his  good 
sense. 

But,  it  may  be  thought,  he  was  probably  a 
heathen,  accustomed  only  to  the  heathen  idea 
of  God.  Then  let  us  look  at  the  well-educated 
Saul,  when  in  direct  contact  with  Christ,  on  the 
way  to   Damascus.     He,   trembling  and  aston- 


HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION?       137 

ished,  said  :  "  Lord  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to 
do  ?  "  That  was  no  unreasonable  or  artificial 
experience  produced  by  heathen  conceptions  of 
cruel  gods.  This  man  was  conversant  with  the 
highest  idea  then  in  the  world  of  the  "  Lord 
God,  merciful  and  gracious,"  and  his  mind  was 
not  exceptionally  weak,  but  rather  exceptionally 
strong. 

Here  there  is  one  stage  of  religious  experi 
ence,  where  fear  has  its  place.  As  you  walk 
the  street,  a  runaway  horse,  a  falling  wall,  a 
dangerous  cutting,  awakens  apprehension  for 
your  bodily  safety.  That  fear  is  according  to 
God's  will,  and  is  meant  to  be  the  means  of 
your  safety.  In  some  similar  way  when  men 
become  conscious  of  a  real  God,  a  holy  law, 
their  violation  of  it,  and  the  inevitable  reckon- 
ing, fear  has  its  due  place  in  impelling  men  to 
seek  safety. 

To  summon  this  fear  into  existence  is  no 
small  part  of  the  preacher's  difficult  work.  The 
sceptic  does  not  fear,  if  he  is  sincere  in  his  scep- 
ticism. With  Lucretius,  he  counts,  the  divinity 
a  creature  of  man's  fear,  and  religion  a  product 
of  terror.     He  has  to  be  shown  "  that  God  is." 


138      ^AS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 

The  "  careless  ones" — (Isaiah  32:  11) — feel  no 
fear,  because  they  do  not  allow  themselves  to 
think  at  all  on  the  subject.  Is  not  the  world 
fair,  and  full  of  "  well-created  things  ?  "  Are  not 
they  healthy  and  happy?  Have  they  not 
enough  to  do,  or  to  enjoy  ?  A  time  may  come, 
perhaps,  when  they  should  think,  and  doubtless 
will  think,  of  these  things  ;  but  plainly,  now  is 
not  the  time.  So,  like  the  dwellers  on  the 
slopes  of  Vesuvius,  busy  with  their  vines,  and 
oblivious  of  subterranean  perils  till  the  moun- 
tain quakes  and  burns  with  fire,  many  are  with- 
out fear  ;  and  the  first  step  towards  their  safety 
is  to  awaken  it. 

The  preacher  of  the  gospel  has  to  shape  his 
teaching  to  their  condition.  To  unfold  the  good- 
ness and  love  of  God  to  them  is  not  the  appro- 
priate effort  for  him.  It  will  only  confirm  them 
in  their  mistake.  Goodness  will  become  to  them 
good-nature,  and  love  an  easy  disposition  that 
will  recognise  all  that  good  in  them  of  which 
they  are  fully  conscious,  and  be  blind  to  all  their 
faults,  if  there  be  any.  Even  such  partial  views 
of  the  Cross  as  present  it  as  a  display  of  God's 
love  and  pity  arc  out  of  place  here.     It  is  cer- 


HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 


139 


tain  that  the  most  awakening  of  all  truths  is 
Christ's  atonement ;  but  its  awakening  element 
is  in  the  holiness  that  recoils  from  sin,  and  the 
justice  that  requires  its  punishment,  even  when 
borne  by  the  Son  of  God.  To  men  in  the  state 
of  mind  above  described,  one  must  preach  as 
Christ  did — (Luke  12:  4,  5) — "  And  I  say  unto 
you,  my  friends.  Be  not  afraid  of  them  that  kill 
the  body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they 
can  do.  But  I  will  forewarn  you  whom  ye  shall 
fear  :  Fear  him  which,  after  he  hath  killed,  hath 
power  to  cast  into  hell ;  yea,  I  say  unto  you, 
Fear  him."  Such  men  must  be  told  what  sin  is 
— how  much  of  it  is  in  them,  how  God  hates  it — 
that  He  knows  of  it  in  them — that  He  will  call 
to  account  for  it — that  they  can  be  eternally  con- 
scious of  His  displeasure — and  that  His  displeas- 
ure is  eternal  and  intolerable. 

This  style  of  teaching  is  not  popular  ;  but 
popularity  is  not  the  test  of  truth.  Men  desire 
"  pleasing"  views  of  God  and  of  men.  .  They 
wish  to  have  the  Divine  Being  painted  as  like 
themselves  as  possible,  not  like  a  common  human 
being  indeed,  but  a  perfect  human  being,  His 
artistic  taste,  His  breadth  of  view,  His  foresight, 


I40       HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 

His  consideration,  His  skill  entitling  Him  to  our 
admiration  and  regard.  This  is  an  incomplete, 
and,  so  far,  an  untrue,  view  of  God,  and  he  who 
only  knows  this,  knows  not  God.  "  Just  and 
righteous  art  thou.  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord 
God  Almighty.''  The  God  of  the  Bible  cannot 
look  upon  sin.  Any  sinner  who  begins  to  know 
this  God,  must  fear  ;  ought  to  fear.  A  God  of 
the  popular  kind,  indeed,  will  awaken  no  appre- 
hension. The  God  of  the  Bible  is  "a  consuming 
fire." 

And  now  the  soul  alarmed  and  terrified  has 
fled  to  the  cross,  owned  sin,  received  forgiveness, 
and  a  hope  of  eternal  life.  The  Christian  race 
has  begun.  The  cross  is  taken  up  in  all  the 
fervor  and  enthusiasm  of  first  love,  and  the  hu- 
man heart  means  to  be  for  the  Lord  and  not  for 
another. 

But  where  is  the  race  to  be  run  ?  Not  in 
heaven  ;  not  in  a  sinless  paradise,  but  in  a  world 
on  which  Satan  has  so  much  power  that  all  its 
influences  are  malign,  and  all  its  forces  hostile. 
Temptations  abound.  Sometimes  they  come  as 
the  continual  dropping  that  wears  away  even  the 
stone.     Sometimes   they   are  sprung  upon  the 


HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 


141 


believer  in  a  moment.  Now  if  the  believer 
were  like  the  sinless  Redeemer,  if  the  prince  of 
this  world  "  found  nothing"  in  him  in  affinity 
with  the  evil  without,  the  danger  would  be  less 
serious.  But  regeneration  is  not  personal  per- 
fection. A  new  direction  is  given  to  the  facul- 
ties ;  but  they  are  not  so  immovably  fixed  in 
that  direction  as  to  resist  all  pressure.  Here, 
then,  is  a  place  for  fear.  "  How  can  I  do  this 
wickedness  and  sin  against  God  ?  "  Will  any  one 
maintain  that  we  see  there  mere  simple  love  ? 
Does  any  one  say  that  Joseph  was  a  youthful 
believer  of  the  Old  Testament  type  ?  Then  hear 
Paul  counsel  New  Testament  believers  to  obey 
earthly  masters  from  regard  to  a  heavenly — (Col. 
3:  22) — "  in  singleness  of  heart  fearing  God."  In 
the  clearest  light  of  divine  manifestations,  it  is 
proper  to  say:  "  Praise  our  God  all  ye  His  ser- 
vants, and  ye  that  fear  Him,  both  small  and 
great" — (Rev.   19:5). 

"What  does  such  a  man  fear?"  it  may  be 
said,  "  God  is  his  father."  Is  that  a  reason 
for  the  absence  of  fear?  He  is  a  holy  Father. 
He  is  not  blind  to  His  children's  faults.  His 
judgments  begin  at  God's  house.     His  enemies 


142         HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 

shall  see  that  He  is  not  weakly  indulgent  to 
one  class,  and  sternly  severe  to  another.  "  If  his 
children  forsake  my  law  and  walk  not  in  my 
judgments;  if  they  break  my  statutes,  and  keep 
not  my  commandments  :  then  will  I  visit  their 
transgressions  with  the  rod,  and  their  iniquity 
with  stripes" — (Psalm  89:  31,  32).  It  is  true 
and  blessed  to  know  that  the  Head  of  the  cove- 
nant secures  their  final  safety  ;  but  that  does  not 
avert  the  stripes  in  the  meantime.  A  believer 
regards  the  personal  character  of  God,  and  re- 
veres it ;  he  expects  to  be  chastened  by  his 
Father,  if  he  disobey ;  he  counts  upon  walking 
"  in  darkness  and  having  no  light"  (Isa.  50 : 
10)  if  he  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  so  he  is 
deterred  from  sinning. 

It  is  easy  to  object  to  this  view  ;  to  denounce 
it  as  servile ;  and  to  expatiate  on  the  power  and 
beauty  of  love.  There  is  love  ;  there  is  grati- 
tude. These  noble  and  elevating  graces  have 
too  much  to  do  in  inspiring  obedience,  to  admit 
of  its  becoming  sordid.  But  fear  is  there  also, 
actively  and  promptly  working,  when  perhaps  love 
alone,  or  gratitude  alone,  might  be  overborne  by 
the  rush  of  inner  evil,  or  of  outward  temptation, 


HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 


143 


or  of  both  ;  and  its  presence  is  not  offensive  to 
the  Lord.  He  "  taketh  pleasure  in  them  that 
fear  him'' — (Psalm  147:  11).  Nor  does  this  hin- 
der fellowship  with  Him.  "  The  secret  of  the 
Lord  (the  confidential  friendship)  is  with  them 
that  fear  him  " — (Psalm  25  :   14). 

It  is  a  most  likely  thing  that  any  system  of 
teaching  that  ignores  this  fear  will,  so  far  as  it 
is  received,  produce  a  race  of  Christians  little 
troubled  about  consistency  or  close  walking;  not 
very  positive  in  Christian  living;  not  much  con- 
cerned about  keeping  the  body  in  subjection  ;  of 
easy  Christian  virtue ;  and  on  terms  of  tolerable 
fellowship  with  the  world. 

It  is  idle  to  tell  us  in  reply  to  all  this  that 
fear  is  not  the  highest  exercise  of  a  living  soul. 
We  are  not  making  that  statement ;  we  are  try- 
ing to  show  it  is  an  exercise — a  most  important 
exercise  of  a  living  soul,  and  a  true  preparation 
for  the  highest.  The  boy  who  goes  in  a  right 
frame  of  mind  to  the  school  of  a  man  like  Dr. 
Arnold,  has,  in  the  first  instance,  a  feeling  toward 
the  person  and  character  of  the  teacher  differ- 
ent from  that  which  he  has  to  the  best  boy  in 
the  school,  who  is  like  himself — only  better.     Is 


144      ^^^  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION? 

that  "  fear''  incompatible  with  an  after  develop- 
ment of  love  ?  As  he  finds  out  the  justice,  the 
true  goodness,  the  uprightness,  the  deep  tender- 
ness of  nature  in  his  teacher,  as,  coming  more 
from  under  tutors,  and  nearer  to  himself,  he  sees 
more  of  him,  and,  growing  in  power  of  apprecia- 
tion, he  can  better  measure  him,  may  there  not 
grow  up  a  love  such  as  Dr.  Arnold  inspired — so 
that  the  pupil  would  die  for  the  master  ?  All 
this  is  in  harmony  with  the  make  of  our  minds, 
and  the  laws  impressed  on  our  moral  nature ; 
and  the  Lord  works  in  the  line  of  these  laws. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  fear  has  its  place  in 
religion — a  place  of  the  utmost  importance  in 
the  earlier  stages,  when  men  are  passing  from 
the  stupefying  power  of  Satan  unto  God ;  and 
afterwards  a  power  only  secondary  to  that  of  the 
love  to  which  it  gives  place,  in  part  on  earth, 
wholly  in  heaven. 

From  the  consideration  of  these  Scripture 
truths,  we  infer  that  if  there  be  an  extreme  view 
of  God  on  the  side  of  severity,  there  is  a  like 
extreme  on  that  of  goodness.  But  the  truth  is, 
neither  is  extreme  ;  for  both  the  mercy  and  the 
justice  of  God  are  infinite,  and  exaggeration  is 


HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION?       1 45 

impossible.  Each  is  a  partial  view.  We  are  to 
"  behold  the  goodness  and  severity"  of  the 
Lord. 

There  are  certain  conditions  of  communities 
in  which  the  justice  and  holiness  of  God  need 
especially  to  be  presented  to  men.  When  there 
is  no  occasion  to  suffer  for  religion  ;  when  truth 
is  rather  taken  for  granted  than  discussed  ;  or 
when  it  is  superciliously  regarded  as  unworthy 
discussion ;  when  iniquity  abounds,  and  the  love 
of  professors  waxes  cold  ;  when  the  radical  dif- 
ference between  a  saint  and  a  sinner,  between 
the  church  and  the  world,  is  obscured  ;  then  is 
there  need  to  hold  up  Him  "who  is  glorious  in 
holiness,  fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders."  It  is 
in  some  degree  confirmatory  of  this  view  that 
awakenings  of  religious  feeling  have  commonly 
begun  with  such  impressions.  Of  the  "  Five  Dis- 
courses" afterwards  published  by  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, because  they  had  been  the  means  of 
great  and  blessed  influence  on  his  people  at 
Northampton,  not  one  is  without  these  deep 
and  solemn  views  ;  and  the  fourth  is  on  the  "  Jus- 
tice of  God  in  the  damnation  of  sinners."  In  two 
instances,  the  delivery  of 'Dr.  Dwight's  sermon 


146      HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  I/V  RELIGION? 

on  "The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended, 
and  we  are  not  saved,"  was  the  beginning 
of  a  revival  of  religion,  at  one  time  half  the 
students  uniting  with  the  church.  And  with- 
out depreciating  servants  of  God  whose  la- 
bors have  not  been  marked  by  this  feature,  it 
is  not  unsafe  to  say  that  some  of  the  greatest 
preachers  of  the  church  have  been  persistent  in 
declaring  these  truths.  Latimer,  Knox,  Calvin, 
Baxter,  Alleine,  Whitfield,  McCheyne,  Nettle- 
ton,  Payson,  the  three  Alexanders,  and  a  host 
of  others  might  be  mentioned  as  illustrations. 

Nor  is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  young 
generally,  and  we  do  not  exclude  young  Chris- 
tians, should  be  encouraged  to  cherish  this  fear. 
With  a  corrupt  nature,  in  the  midst  of  a  cor- 
rupting world,  with  temptations  to  sin,  that  often 
come  too  quickly  to  allow  time  for  the  sober 
decisions  of  judgment,  and  too  impetuously  for 
the  gentle  sway  of  a  too  feeble  love,  swiftly-act- 
ing fear  is  the  proper  and  salutary  check  ;  it  is 
"the  beginning  of  wisdom."  On  the  other 
hand,  among  a  generation  of  young  people,  who 
have  slight  impressions  on  this  general  subject; 
who  are  deficient  in   reverence   crenerally ;  who 


HAS  FEAR  A  PLACE  IN  RELIGION?       147 

talk  easily  and  glibly  of  the  great  things  of  God  ; 
who  come  into  the  church  without  much  con- 
cern ;  who  dwell  almost  exclusively  on  the  sooth- 
ing side  of  the  divine  character ;  there  will  be 
little  Christian  decision,  little  Christian  earnest- 
ness, little  hatred  of  error  and  evil,  and  a  very 
wide-reaching  toleration  for  the  fashions  of  that 
world,  friendship  with  which  is  enmity  with 
God. 


HOW  SHALL  A  MAN  EXAMINE  HIM- 
SELF? 


HERE  are  two  opposite  mistakes,  for 
the  sake  of  guarding  against  which, 
mainly,  we  consider  this  question.  The 
one  is  promoted  by  those  who  decry 
all  effort  on  the  part  of  a  man  to  look  into,  and 
form  an  opinion  regarding,  his  own  heart.  To 
them  it  is  "  self-anatomy,"  "  unhealthy  introspec- 
tion,'' "  morbid  self-scrutiny,"  and  such  like 
folly.  They  illustrate  it  by  the  pulling  up  of  the 
plant  to  see  how  it  is  growing.  One  eminent 
essayist  has  an  amusing  reminiscence  of  a  lad 
who  tried  his  water-melons  to  see  if  they  were 
ripe  so  frequently  that  he  hastened,  not  their 
ripeness,  but  their  rottenness.* 

The  second  is  that  promoted  by  those  who 

*  Sermons  on  living  subjects.  Bushnell,  1872 


I/OJV  SHALL  A  MAN  149 

assign  to  self-examination  a  place  and  use  differ- 
ent from  those  assigned  to  it  in  Scripture.  On 
the  one  side  is  a  precipitous  and  perilous  steep, 
up  which,  according  to  Dr.  Bushnell,  we  cannot 
possibly  climb  ;  and  on  which,  if  we  could,  there 
is  nothing  to  be  gained.  On  the  other  is  a 
marsh,  lying  out  of  our  way,  and  in  which  much 
of  the  time  we  spend  is  comfortless,  as  well  as 
lost.  The  safe  way  of  a  scriptural  self-examina- 
tion lies  between. 

We  shall  look  at  the  texts  on  the  subject. 
Many  preachers  have,  no  doubt,  quoted  as  in 
point— (  II.  Cor.  13:  5) — "Examine  yourselves, 
prove  your  own  selves.  Know  ye  not  your  own 
selves,  how  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  ye  except  you 
be  reprobates?  "  It  is  undeniable  that  the  direct 
aim  of  the  Apostle  here  is  not  to  inculcate  self-  -^ 
scrutiny  for  its  own  sake,  or  its  benefits.  He  is 
repelling  the  Corinthians'  doubts  regarding  his 
authority,  and  appealing  to  their  experience  foi 
proofs  of  his  apostolic  power.  "  Why  look  at 
yourselves,  are  not  you  Christians  ?  How  did 
you  become  so  ?  Are  not  ye  my  seals,  my  let- 
ters of  commendation  ?  " 

But  Dr.  Bushnell  surely  speaks  too  strongly 


I50 


EXAMINE  HIMSELF? 


when  he  says,  "  It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance,  by 
the  mere  English  reader,  and  much  more  by  a 
scholar  versed  in  the  original  language,  that  the 
Apostle  is  simply  referring  the  Corinthians  here 
to  their  own  new  spiritual  state,  for  proof  that 
he  has  had  a  power  in  them  for  good."  So  far 
is  this  from  being  the  obvious  and  simple  and 
only  design  that  Hodge  sees  in  the  opening 
words  an  antithetic  retort  on  the  Corinthians : 
"  Ye  examine  me — examine  your  own  selves  ;  ye 
seek  for  Christ  in  me — seek  for  Him  in  your- 
selves." This  he  considers  the  first  link  of  con- 
nection with  the  foregoing  context.  Lange 
makes  this  the  direct,  simple  point  of  the  open- 
ing clause,  and  does  not  see  at  all  what  Dr.  Bush- 
nell  counts  so  obvious.  But  he  does  see  what 
Bushnell  misses,  and  Dr.  Hodge  does  not  empha- 
size, and  our  English  version  does  not  notice  at 
all,  the  in)  "  or,"  connecting  the  two  members  of 
the  verse,  and  introducing  a  new  and  alternative 
idea.  Having  in  view  the  context,  the  original 
tongue,  and  the  sense  commonly  put  upon  it, 
there  is  no  reason  for  abandoning  the  common 
meaning  of  this  text. 

It  is  argued  that  only  God  can  examine  us ; 


HO  W  SHALL  A  MAN  \  5  i 

that  He  does;  and  that  we  may  noi.  take  the 
business  out  of  His  hand;  that  we  truly  prove 
ourselves  when  He  proves  us  ;  and  may  rightly 
approve  ourselves  when  He  approves.*  But 
this  is  not  denied,  but  implied  ;  no  sound  think- 
ing Christian  ever  supposed  that  he  could  infal- 
libly discern  and  approve  himself,  as  he  might  a 
piece  of  goods,  or  a  tradesman's  workmanship. 
It  is  argued  that  for  a  soul  to  look  into  itself  is 
to  be  taken  off  its  proper  work,  which  is  to  look 
outward  and  upward.  Dr.  Bushnell  elaborately 
argues  to  that  effect  in  a  sermon  from  Psalm  26 : 
2 — "  Examine  me,  O  Lord,  and  prove  me,  try 
my  reins  and  my  heart" — the  doing  of  which  by 
the  Lord  supersedes  the  duty  of  .yr//-examin- 
ation. 

He  appears  to  have  overlooked  the  fact  that 
of  that  very  Psalm,  nearly  a  half  consists  of  this 
looking  within,  and  is  founded  upon  it,  in  such  a 
strain  as  this — "  I  have  not  sat  with  vain  per- 
sons, neither  will  I  go  in  with  dissemblers.  I 
have  hated  the  congregation  of  evil-doers,  and  I 
will  not  sit  with  the  wicked" — v.  4,  5.  \\\  fact, 
most  of  Dr.  Bushnell's  argument  against  "  com- 
*  Bushnell. 


152  EXA  MINE  HIMSELF  ? 

muning  with  one's  own  heart,"  founded  on  the 
second  verse,  is  a  censure  on  the  rest  of  the  Psahn, 
and  he  entirely  omits  to  indicate  how  one  can 
have  such  approval  of  one's  self  as  he  would 
admit,  without  introspection.  Even  when  the 
Spirit  of  God  witnesses  that  we  are  the  sons  of 
God,  it  is  not  an  independent  objective  testi- 
mony, like  Jonah's  preaching  to  Nineveh,  but  is 
"  with  our  spirit  " — (Rom.  8  :  i6).  Indeed,  Dr. 
Bushnell,  with  a  strong  love  of  iconoclasm  in  his 
nature,  has  been  tempted  to  strike  at  more  than 
he  seriously  meant,  and  to  heap  all  manner  of 
ingenious  censure  on  what  we  feel  certain  he  ap- 
proves and  practises,  perhaps  under  other  names.* 
He  would  not  surely  censure  that  habit  of  mind 
which  both  philosophically  and  popularly  is  de- 
scribed  as  "  reflection." 

The  only  other  text  that  is  allowed  to  have 
a  formal  bearing  on  this  subject  is  in  i.  Cor.  ii  : 
28 — "  But  let  a  man  examine  (rfoM/^nfm — same 
word  as  in  ii.  Cor,  13:  5  for  "prove")  himself, 
and    so    let    him    eat    of  that    bread  and  drink 

*  See,  for  example,  a  most  eloquent  and  admirable  sermon 
on  "  Dissolving  of  Doubts,"  and  a  fine  piece  of  self-examination 
p.  174. 


HOW  SHALL  A  MAN  153 

of  that  cup.''  It  is  admitted  that  the  imme- 
diate reference  is  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  "  But,'' 
says  Dr.  Bushnell,  "  the  point  here  is  to 
merely  interpose  a  caution,  an  appeal  of  cir- 
cumspection that  will  prepare  the  receiver  of 
the  supper  to  partake  with  reverence — let  him 
put  himself  to  the  proof  sufficiently  to  make  sure 
of  this :  there  is  no  thought  of  putting  him  on  a 
retrospective  study  and  testing  of  his  disciple 
ship."  Yet  it  is  assumed  that  he  can,  so  far, 
form  a  judgment  on  himself,  which  is  against 
Dr.  Bushnell's  first  position  (namely,  that  only 
the  Lord  can  examine  us) ;  and  it  is  assumed  that 
it  is  good  for  the  soul,  in  some  circumstances  at 
least,  to  be  engaged  in  introspection,  which  is 
against  his  second  position,  that  self-examination 
is  "  an  artificial  state  in  which  the  soiil  is  drawn 
off  from  its  objects,  and  works,  and  its  calls  of 
love  and  self-sacrifice,  to  engage  itself  in  acts  of 
self-inspection."  Dr.  Bushnell,  with  an  illus- 
tration that  is  half  argument,  says — "as  if  a 
workman  might  withdraw  himself  for  a  day,  or  a 
week,  from  his  work,  to  examine  whether  he  is 
industrious  or  not."  We  respectfully  submit 
that  there  is  no  true  parallel  in  the  case  ;  but  if 


154  EXAMINE  HIMSELF? 

one  may  find  analogies  between  spiritual  and 
natural  industries,  it  would  be  wiser  and  safer 
to  refer  to  the  merchant,  or  even  the  store-keeper 
who  is  doing  his  business  loosely  if  he  has  not  time 
for  "  taking  stock,"  and  balancing  his  books,  and 
determining  exactly  where  he  stands.  It  would 
be  easy,  but  not  wise,  to  reprove  him  for  turning 
from  his  proper  business  of  effecting  sales,  and 
making  operations,  to  the  scrutiny  of  his  own 
books  and  goods. 

The  main  advantage  we  can  derive  from 
these  sharp  censures  on  self-examination,  which 
include  even  Edwards'  book  on  the  Religious 
Affections,  is  to  beware  of  morbid  feelings,  or 
unscriptural  methods,  or  degrees,  in  this  essen- 
tial and  inevitable  department  of  Christian  life  : 
and  the  danger  is,  that  the  light  and  frivolous, 
whose  lives  are  more  like  a  log  floating  with  the 
current  than  a  ship  steered  towards  a  port,  will 
encourage  themselves  in  their  unreflecting,  un- 
calculating,  unregulated  lives,  and  regard  with 
supercilious  pity  the  conscientious  souls  that 
prosecute  a  vigorous,  self-scrutiny  in  God's  pres- 
ence. 

We  must  hold  in  view  of  these  texts  and  of 


HOW  SHALL  A  MAN 


155 


all  the  facts,  that  there  is  a  place  for  self-exami- 
nation in  the  Christian  life.    We  learn  from  those 
who  undervalue  it  that  it  is  not  to   be  entered 
upon  alone,  but  in  view  of,  and  with   the   coop- 
eration, so  to  speak,  of  the   Lord,  who   searches 
the  heart.     It   is    impossible   to  get  away  from 
the    duty   of    passing    moral    judgments    upon 
ourselves.     "  For,"  says  the    apostle,  in   closest 
connection     with    our    subject,    "  if    we    would 
judge  ourselves   we   should   not    be   judged  '' — 
(i.  Cor.  II   31).      "The     haKpivnv    judge ^'    says 
Lange,  "  most  truly  refers   back  to  the   SoKifia^eiv 
proveP     We  cannot    consider  the  question    of 
entering    on    any    Christian    work    without     it. 
Why  ask  a  candidate  for  the  ministry  as   to  his 
motives    in    seeking    the  office  ?  Why  raise  any 
question  in  the  mind  of  an  applicant  for  church- 
membership,  if  no  moral  judgment  is  to  be  passed 
on  one's  self?     The  necessity  lies  in  our  very  be- 
ing. How  can  one  repent  without  looking  within, 
and  looking  back  ?     How  can  one  say,    "I  be- 
lieve," without  calling  consciousness  to  bear  wit- 
ness of  that  which  is  within?    How  can  we  even 
give   thanks  for    mercies    of  the    most   precious 
kind,    the     sense    of    pardon,    the     presence    ot 


I  56  EXAMINE  HIMSELF? 

Christ,  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  as- 
surance of  Divine  favor,  without  looking  within  ? 
And  if  we  can  and  must  look  within  for  the 
good  for  which  to  praise,  we  can  and  must  also 
look  within  for  the  corruption,  and  heart-evils, 
that  we  may  confess  them,  get  strength  to  re- 
sist them,  and  forsake  them. 

What  is  a  proper  subject  for  self-examina- 
tion ?  We  reply  without  hesitation  :  everything 
that  makes  character.  This  includes  feelings, 
aims,  motives.  Do  I  love  God,  trust  Christ,  and 
seek  to  serve  Him?  Am  I  aiming  at  His  glory? 
Is  my  motive  to  honor  Him,  or  indirectly  my- 
self? What  is  the  standard  of  examination  ? 
There  can  be  but  one — the  infallible  Word  of 
God.  All  others  are  uncertain  and  varying. 
The  conscience  is  not  always  enlightened  ;  can 
be  drugged,  or  seared,  or  blinded.  What  is 
called  moral  sense  is  often  dull  and  blunt. 
Human  opinion  shifts  with  the  times  and 
changes  with  localities.  Usages  are  tolerated 
here  now,  which,  wisely  or  not,  Christian  and 
even  secular  society  reprobated  fifty  years  ago, 
and  which  would  be  condemned  elsewhere,  even 
in  this  State  of  New  York.     But  the  word  of 


HOW  SHALL  A  MAN  157 

the  Lord  is  determinate  and  fixed.  The  human 
experience  is  to  be  brought  to  it,  tried  by  it, 
approved  or  condemned  by  it.  When  it  ap- 
proves, God  approves  ;  when  it  condemns,  God 
condemns  as  truly  and  really  as  if  we  saw  Him 
on  His  throne,  and  heard  Him  in  articulate 
tones  of  thunder  denounce  the  evil.  What  He 
approves  in  us,  we  shall  not  be  sinfully  proud  of, 
for  a  clear  view  of  it  implies  a  clear  sight  of  it  as 
God's  work  in  us  ;  and  a  reading  of  the  119th 
Psalm,  and  many  other  portions  of  God's  word, 
shows  that  a  saint  may  recall  his  integrity,  love 
to  God's  statutes,  engagement  in  His  service, 
grief  over  transgressors,  hatred  of  sin,  with  per- 
fect propriety,  without  anything  morbid,  and  in 
the  very  spirit  in  which  the  apostle  says  :  *'  It  is 
God  that  worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and 
to  do." 

In  what  manner  shall  we  examine  ourselves  ? 
In  the  presence  of  God.  He  invites  us  to  this. 
"  Come  and  let  us  reason  together  '' — (Isa.  i  :  18). 
A  sin  which  we  commit  fearlessly  and  unob 
served,  we  feel  keenly  when  seen  by  another,  and 
even  the  after  discovery  that  we  were  observed 
will  often  awaken  shame.     Much  more  does  the 


158  EXAMINE  HIM  SELF  f 

enormity  of  our  sin  appear,  when  God's  presence 
is  realized.  One  may  say :  "  I  have  gone 
against  my  conscience,"  with  comparative  indif- 
ference, but  it  is  a  different  thing  to  say  :  "  I 
have  sinned  against  God  ;"  and  it  is  something- 
still  different  to  say  to  Him,  as  a  present,  holy 
Deity:  "Against  TJiee  have  I  sinned.''  For,  as 
Dr.  Shedd  effectively  exhibits,*  there  are  two 
parties  concerned  in  every  sin :  the  transgressor 
who  commits  it,  and  the  Lord  whose  law  is 
broken.  It  is  bad  to  sin  against  society,  against 
self,  against  the  voice  of  conscience,  but  the 
most  real,  deepest  criminality  is  that  we  rob, 
insult,  and  mock  God.  What  is  common  crime 
against  a  fellow-subject,  is  treason  against  the 
State  ;  what  is  bad  against  the  creature,  is  worse, 
by  far,  against  the  Creator  and  King. 


*  Sermons  to  the  Natural  Man,  d.  1S3 — a  most  valuable  and 
quite  necessary  volume. 


WHAT  IS  DISORDERLY  WALKING? 


HE  word  "disorderly"  occurs  three 
times  in  our  English  version,  and  once 
in  the  margin,  where  the  text  has 
"  unruly."  It  is  in  three  forms  in  the 
Greek ;  as  an  adverb  in  II.  Thess.  3:6,  ii  ;  an 
adjective  in  I.  Thess.  5  :  14;  a  verb  in  II.  Thess. 
3  :  7.  All  the  words  are  from  the  one  noun, 
taxis,  a  purely  military  word,  corresponding  to 
"  line,"  or  rank.  A  disorderly  soldier  is  a  man 
who  breaks  line,  and  allows  himself  to  fall  out 
of  rank.  He  is  a  man  under  authority,  and  the 
authority  settles  the  rank.  He  disregards  the 
authority  so  far  as  to  step  out  of  rank.  The 
act,  by  itself,  may  be  trivial — a  few  feet  one  way 
or  another — but  it  is  a  disobedience  to  author- 
ity. It  is  a  little  curious  that  the  use  of  this  word 
should   be  confined   to  the   two   letters    to   the 


1 60  '     f^^^  T  IS  DISORD ERL  Y  WALKING  ? 

Thessalonians.  The  peculiarity  of  this  church, 
which  called  for  the  letters,  is  well  known. 
Somewhat  speculative,  perhaps,  in  view,  the 
Christians  of  the  wealthy  and  populous  Thessa- 
lonica  had  concluded  that  their  departed  friends 
had  been  serious  losers  by  their  dying  before 
the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Feverish  anxieties 
and  restless  expectations  so  far  prevailed  in  the 
Church  as  to  render  calm,  authoritative  admo- 
nition no  less  necessary  than  consolation  and 
encouragement  under  trials  and  afflictions. 

Of  course  this  apprehension  regarding  de- 
ceased friends,  rested  on  the  assumption  that 
the  day  of  the  Lord  was  "  at  hand  " — (ll.  Thess. 
2 :  2).  Either  a  misconstruction  of  the  first 
Epistle,  or  the  circulation  of  a  spurious  Epistle, 
had  deepened  this  unhealthy  feeling,  and  awak- 
ened an  unwholesome  enthusiasm — such  an  en- 
thusiasm as  is  easily  roused,  and  rapidly  diffused, 
among  an  excitable  people  in  a  great  city. 

Having  regard  to  this  state  of  things,  the 
apostle  says  very  gently — i.  Thess.  4:  ii,  12 — 
"  And  that  ye  study  to  be  quiet,  and  to  do  your 
own  business,  and  to  work  with  your  own  hands, 
as  we  commanded  you  ;  that  ye  may  walk  hon- 


WHA  T  IS  DISORDERL  Y  WALKING?      i6l 

estly  toward  them  that  are  without,  and  that 
ye  may  have  lack  of  nothing." 

They  were  carrying  indifference  to  earthly 
things  to  the  verge  of  prudence,  and  he  com- 
mends them  for  their  brotherly  love,  but  imme- 
diately adds  a  word  that  would  imply  they  had 
been  on  the  border  of  meddling,  bustling,  os- 
tentatious, "  brotherliness,"  which  did  not  then, 
and  does  not  yet,  commend  religion  to  the  better 
class  of  refined  persons.  They  are  advised  to 
make  it  their  aim  to  be  quiet,  to  confine  them- 
selves to  the  sphere  of  their  proper  duties,  work 
at  their  proper  callings, — the  words  implying 
handicraft — as  he  had  counselled  them  when 
with  them.  This  would  secure  the  respect  of 
the  non-Christians,  and  keep  themselves  from 
dependence  on  others.  It  would  show  that  the 
Christian  religion  was  not  a  visionary  scheme, 
breaking  up  men's  ways,  and  sending  them 
abroad  as  disturbers  of  general  quiet  life  ;  that 
it  worked  in  with  all  prudent,  self-reliant  toil, 
and  all  honorable  callings  and  labors,  by  which 
men  took  care  of  themselves  and  their  families. 

The  firm  and  precise  manner  in  which  this 
counsel  is  given,   may  explain  his  language  in 


1 62       WHA  T  IS  DISORDERL  V  WALKING ? 

V.  14,  "  Now  we  beseech  you,  brethren"  (all  tne 
members — not  the  rulers  only),  "  warn  them  that 
are  unruly,"  or  disorderly,  who  are  not  quiet,  not 
minding  their  own  business,  not  honestly  sup- 
porting themselves,  but  making  Christianity 
offensive  to  the  outsiders. 

The  advice  is  not,  at  least  solely,  to  church- 
officers  who  do  not  always  know  of  these  things 
as  well  as  the  members ;  but  to  the  members. 
The  "warning"  is  "correcting  them  byword." 
"  Tell  them  of  their  error ;  speak  to  them ;  ad- 
monish them  ;  not  necessarily  with  severity,  but 
in  a  neighborly,  kindly  way."  Now  all  this  is 
in  the  first  Epistle.  The  admonition  is  not 
direct ;  it  is  mildly  hinted  ;  it  is  put  construc- 
tively. 

But — how  is  not  the  question  here — before  the 
writing  of  the  second,  the  apostle  has  heard  that 
so  far  from  this  gentle  caution  effecting  the  de- 
sired reform,  matters  grew  worse  among  the 
Christians  in  Thessalonica.  He  proceeds  accord- 
ingly with  greater  plainness  of  speech  in  the 
Second  Epistle.  He  does  not  mince  matters. 
In  his  clearer  and  more  emphatic  statement, 
we  can  see  what  he   meant  in  his  former  letter. 


WIIA  T  IS  DISORDERL  Y  WALKING?      jg^ 

"  We  hear  (il.  Thes.  3:11)  that  there  are  some 
which  walk  among  you  disorderly,  working  not 
at  all,  but  are  busy-bodies."  This  is  all  wrong  ; 
and  the  remedy  is  at  hand.  It  is  a  command 
and  an  exhortation  that  they  go  quietly  to  work 
and  maintain  themselves.  The  apostle  Paul 
was  direct,  practical,  and  straightforward. 

Well,  suppose  they  did  not  ?  Suppose  they 
found  it  more  pleasant  to  designate  themselves 
to  a  general  supervision  of  other  workers,  and 
claimed  with  more  or  less  form  to  be  main- 
tained by  them :  what  then  ? 

The  apostle  has  a  rule  for  this — v.  6—"  We 
command  you,  brethren,  in  the  name  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  withdraw  yourselves 
from  every  brother  that  walketh  disorderly,  and 
not  after  the  tradition  which  he  received  of  us." 

"  But,''  it  may  be  alleged  on  behalf  of  these 
self-constituted  supervisors.  "  they  are  godly 
persons  and  they  are  doing  good."  "  Even  so," 
replies  the  matter-of-fact  and  practical  apostle, 
"  when  I  was  among  you,  to  set  an  example  in 
this  very  thing,  I  worked  with  my  own  hands 
night  and  day — I'never  depended  on  any  one — 
I  meant  by  foregoing  rights  I   had,  to  take  away 


1 64      WHA  T  IS  DISORDERL  V  IFJLA'IA'G? 

all  colorable  pretence  for  such  zvroiigs  as  these 
disorderly  ^Yalkers  inflict." 

The  brethren,  then,  are  to  withdraw  from 
these  busy-bodies ;  to  give  them  no  counte- 
nance ;  to  let  them  severely  alone  ;  to  show 
them  by  their  conduct  and  bearing  that  they 
are  not  wanted,  except  in  another  character. 

If  a  "man  of  honor"  violates  any  of  the 
rules  of  honor's  code,  will  not  stand  fire,  or 
pay  his  gambling-debts,  his  associates  know 
what  to  do  with  him.  They  cut  him.  If  a 
person  of  fashion  violently  transgresses  any  of 
the  commandments  in  the  decalogue  of  "  good 
society"  he  is  "  put  into  Coventry."  And  the 
Christian  church  without  "  formal  process,"  or 
discipline  by  session  or  presbytery,  by  the 
faithful  discharge  of  duty  on  the  part  of  her 
members  in  withdrawing  from  the  idle  and  self- 
ish camp-followers,  is  to  preserve  herself,  and 
stand  clear  before  the  world. 

On  this  general  subject,  in  this  connection, 
we  have  several  observations  to  make,  more  or 
less  directly  growing  out  of  the  theme. 

First  of  all,  where  a  new  religious  "cause"  is 
coming  into  existence,  some  of  these  busy-bodies 


IVHA  T  IS  DISORDERL  V  WALKING?      165 

may  be  looked  for.  They  have  probably  lost 
caste  in  several  other  causes  ;  worn  out  their 
"  friends,"  been  getting  the  "  cold  shoulder ;  " 
they  are  ready  to  reconsider  their  duty.  They 
become  keenly  alive  to  the  shortcomings  of  their 
old  associates,  and  enthusiastically  devoted  to 
the  virtues  of  the  newcomers.  They  talk  ;  they 
go  around.  They  are  busy — very  busy — bodies  ; 
hearts  they  have  none.  They  rate  themselves 
highly  :  patronize  the  young  minister,  while  they 
hang  on  him :  confess  the  sins  of  other  people  : 
deplore  general  deadness  :  and  particularly  the 
deadness  of  their  last  set,  who,  meanwhile,  se- 
cretly feel  that  they  have  had  a  good  riddance. 

It  is  a  proof  to  any  man  who  ever  nursed  the 
cradle  of  an  infant  "  cause,"  of  Paul's  manly 
courage,  and  practical,  thorough  common-sense, 
that  he  tells  these  useless  hangers-on  to  get  to 
work,  and  earn  honest  bread  ;  and  that  he  tells 
Christians,  if  they  will  not,  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  them. 

Secondly,  a  speculative  type  of  religious 
thought,  such  as  afflicted  the  Thessalonians, 
breeds  these  buzzing  church-flies  in  a  peculiar 
degree.     Men  with  notions,  hobbies,  crotchets, 


166       IVHA  T  IS  DISORDERL  Y  WALKING? 

peculiar  views — very  peculiar — and  ideas  of  their 
own,  feed  on  the  unfulfilled  prophecies,  and  be- 
come so  absorbed  in  the  prospects  of  a  future  dis- 
pensation as  to  neglect  the  plainest  obligations 
of  the  present.  They  are  exercised  about  the 
signs  of  the  times.  They  leave  others  to  watch 
the  signs  of  hunger  and  nakedness  in  their  wives 
or  children.  They  are  so  exclusively  spiritual 
that  they  leave  their  friends  to  provide  for  their 
temporal  things,  and  congratulate  them  on  hav 
ing  the  privilege.  From  this  form  of  unhealthy, 
unmanly,  unreasonable,  and  often  fussy  relig- 
iousness, Paul  would  have  us  withdraw.  It  is 
all  disorderly,  in  his  estimation. 

Without  sinking  to  the  depth  of  dependence 
for  bread,  there  are  many  who  allow  themselves 
in  a  habit  of  life  which  is  essentially  disorderly 
in  the  apostle's  sense.  They  gossip.  It  is 
about  religious  things,  perhaps,  but  it  is  gossip 
concerning-  ministers,  churches,  conversions,  per- 
sons "  interested,"  changes  that  ought  to  be  and 
will  be.  They  know  the  insides  of  things.  They 
saw  such  and  such  men.  They  made  it  their 
business  to  inquire ;  they  felt  an  interest  in  the 
matter.     They  gain,  perhaps,  a  little  importance 


WHAT  IS  DISORDERLY  WALKING?       167 

from  their  being  early  or  exclusive  possessors  of 
scraps  of  church-news,  and,  like  the  store-keep- 
ers, they  put  their  most  tempting  wares  in  their 
windows. 

In  deciding  with  nice  exactness  whose  useful- 
ness is  at  an  end  ;  who  preaches  the  gospel ;  who 
is  doing  a  "  grand  work/'  and  who  is  not ;  such  an 
one  is  sometimes  captious,  sometimes  censorious, 
and,  not  being  infallible,  sometimes  mistaken, 
and  so  sometimes  extremely  mischievous.  In  the 
constant  news-carrying  that  gives  him  interest  in 
life,  and  gets  him  a  hearing  among  men,  he  en- 
ters the  ranks  of  "  not  only  the  idle  but  tattlers, 
also,  and  busy-bodies,  speaking  things  which  they 
ought  not."  We  cannot  stop  these  vain  talkers, 
perhaps  ;  they  will  bring  forth  fruit  after  their 
kind,  but  we  can  deny  them  intimacy,  and  coun- 
tenance ;  we  can  maintain  to  them  a  prudent 
reserve;  we  can  keep  them  at  a  distance;  we 
can  keep  from  being  among  their  listeners ;  we 
can  make  up  our  minds  neither  to  "  receive  them 
into  our  houses  nor  to  bid  them  God-speed." 

And  the  point  is  surely  worth  the  attention 
of  many  most  excellent  men,  whether  much  of 
our  religious  newspaper  correspondence  is  not 


l68       WHAT  IS  DISORDERLY  WALKING? 

degenerating  into  this  disorderliness?  How- 
much  of  it  is  taken  up  with  the  purely  personal, 
including  the  eyes,  hair,  whiskers,  shoulders 
dress,  of  ministers !  A  man — perhaps  a  min- 
ister— has  a  seat  given  him  among  the  worship- 
pers in  God's  house  ;  is  attentive,  earnest,  pen- 
cil in  hand  ;  they  who  sit  by  him  conclude  he  is 
noting  some  good  thoughts  from  their  pastor,  of 
which  he  will  make  wise  use  some  day  in  his 
own  pulpit.  Ah  !  my  dear  sir,  like  Caiaphas's 
hearers,  "you  know  nothing  at  all."  He  is 
noting  the  "  salient  points"  in  the  personnel  of 
the  preacher;  finding  out  "how  he  does  it,"  and 
meditating  the  nice  hits  that  will  make  a  read- 
able ten-dollar  article  for  the  editor  and  the  in- 
telligent readers  of  The  Oracular  Expositor. 

At  the  imminent  risk  of  vexing  some  good 
Christians,  we  venture  the  further  statement 
that  the  spirit  of  the  Apostle's  counsels  on  this 
subject  is  entirely  against  not  a  few  things  freely 
done  by  excellent  persons  in  our  time.  In  the 
light  of  these  admonitions,  all  encouragements  to 
dependence  on  good  societies  is  unwise.  It 
may  be  very  desirable  to  show  the  necessity  for 
their  existence  by   the   numbers  they  aid  ;  but 


WIIA  T  IS  DISORDERL  V  WALKING?      169 

the  showing  is  often  made  at  the  cost  of  mis- 
chief to  individuals  and  the  community.  There 
is  no  excuse  in  America  for  the  lamentable  and 
growing  dependence  which  threatens  to  rival 
that  of  older  European  communities.  That  the 
mendicancy,  which  some  has  exalted  into  high 
Christian  virtue,  has  no  countenance  here,  is  too 
obvious  to  require  notice.  And  we  can  hardly, 
with  present  light,  satisfy  ourselves  that  some 
of  the  popular  forms  of  *'  running"  institutions, 
and  living  "  by  faith,"  are  not  out  of  harmony 
with  the  practical  good  sense  by  which  this 
held  apostolic  action,  in  common  with  the  rest  of 
Scripture,  is  marked.  Faith  is  the  belief  of 
God's  promises ;  but  where  is  the  promise  that 
A.  B.,  having  appointed  himself  a  minister,  and 
called  himself  to  a  line  of  labor,  or  placed  him- 
self at  the  head  of  an  institution,  will  be  sus- 
tained without  the  employment  of  the  ordinary 
means  through  which  God  declares  He  will 
work  ?  True  prudence  and  true  piety  never 
fail  to  harmonize. 


WHAT    ALTAR    HAVE   WE? 


HE  opening  words  of  Heb.  13  :  i^,  "  We 
have  an  altar"  the  meaning  of  which 
we  are  to  find  from  the  context,  may 
be  seen  as  the  heading  of  compositions 
intended  to  show  that  the  minister  is  a  sacri- 
ficing priest,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  a  means  of 
propitiation.  By  detaching  a  phrase  of  scrip- 
ture from  its  natural  connection,  and  ignoring 
all  related  truth,  one  may  make  the  inspired 
volume  teach  almost  anything ;  but  it  is  at  the 
cost  of  its  reputation  as  a  book  of  wisdom,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  good  sense  of  such  exposi- 
tors. 

Foolish  as  is  the  argument  so  founded,  that 
is  a  most  serious  position  which  it  is  brought  to 
sustain.  It  affects  not  only  the  position  of  the 
ministry,  but    the    religious    experience   of  the 


WHA  T  ALTAR  HA  VE    WE  ?  1 7 1 

people,  because  it  affects  our  views .  of  the  one 
great  sacrifice  offered  by  Christ.  We  ought 
therefore  to  know  of  what  kind  is  that  altar  to 
which  Christians  come. 

The  word  is  of  frequent  use  in  scripture.  The 
first  altar  expressly  named  is  Noah's — (Gen.  8  : 
20) — erected  on  his  coming  out  of  the  ark.  Tra- 
ditions regarding  an  altar  erected  by  Adam,  on 
which  Cain  and  Abel  offered,  and  affirming  that 
God  erected  the  first  altar  prior  to  creation  and 
made  man  upon  it,  are  worthless  as  to  fact,  and 
only  suggestive  of  the  conspicuous  place  the  al- 
tar held  in  all  ancient  religious  thinking. 

We  need  not  here  look  at  altars  of  which  we 
have  several  illustrations  in  scripture,  that  have  a 
memorial,  rather  than  a  religious  use,  such  as 
those  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  divine 
interdict  against  peace  with  Amalek,  and  of  the 
perpetual  unity  of  the  separated  tribes  with 
their  brethren,  notwithstanding  that  "  Jordan 
rolled  between  "  their  possessions — (Exod. 
17:  15,16,  and  Josh.  22:   10-29). 

The  altars  with  which  we  have  to  do,  are 
those  that  possess  divine  sanction  for  religious 
uses  ;  and  the  question  that  concerns   us  is,  do 


172  WHAT  ALTAR  HAVE    WE? 

they  run  on  into  the  New  Testament  and  stand 
to  us  as  they  did  to  the  Jews  in  the  Old  ? 

The  two  altars  that  Moses  made  by  divine 
command,  and  which  were  renewed  and  modified 
in  the  changes  which  the  Tabernacle  and  the 
Temple  underwent,  were  that  of  Burnt  offering, 
and  that  of  Incense.  That  of  the  Burnt  offering 
had  to  do  with  sacrifice,  shedding  of  blood, 
making  of  atonement,  and  averting  divine  anger. 
Its  fire  was  never  to  die  out.  It  was  not  the 
symbol  of  Deity,  like  that  which  Roman  Vestals 
guardecl,  or  Persian  priests  kept  constantly  burn- 
ing. It  was  the  means  of  the  most  solemn  acts 
of  Jewish  worship.  Its  origin  was  regarded  as 
divine,  and  it  suggested  that  the  people  should 
•never  cease  to  be  divine  worshippers,  a  "  king- 
dom of  priests,  unto  the  Lord  '' — -(Exod.  19:  6). 

On  this  altar  blood  was  sprinkled,  and  the 
sacrifices  were  consumed.  It  hallowed  the  gift. 
It  was  nothing  if  not  for  sacrificial  purposes. 

The  altar  of  incense  had  no  such  use.  Once 
a  year  it  was  sprinkled  with  blood — (Exod.  30: 
10) — as  a  part  of  the  service  of  the  great  day  of 
atonement.  Sweet  incense  was  burned  on  it 
daily.     It  is  the  expression  of  a  people's  praise, 


'  WHAT  ALTAR  HAVE   WE?  173 

the  praise  itself  accepted  on  the  ground  of  their 
being  atoned  for.  So  the  horns  of  it  once  a  year 
bear  the  traces  of  blood  shed  for  the  remission 
of  sin.  When  heaven  is  represented  in  scrip- 
ture under  the  figure  of  a  temple,  we  miss  from 
it  the  altar  of  Burnt-offering.  No  more  atone- 
ment is  to  be  made.  The  saints  are  "  perfected 
for  ever  "  by  the  one  offering  long  since  made. 
But  we  do  find  the  altar  of  incense — for  praise 
is  perpetual.  "  They  rest  not  day  and  night, 
saying:  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty, 
which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come."  A  live  coal 
from  off  the  altar — Isa.  6  :  6,  7 — of  which  the 
smoke  or  incense  filled  the  house, — v.  4 — touches 
the  lips  of  Isaiah  that  he  may  speak  the  praises 
of  the  Lord.  (The  tradition  of  the  Jews  is  that 
the  original  fire  on  the  altar  of  Burnt-offering 
emitted  no  smoke).  In  Rev.  8 :  3,  4^heaven 
is  presented  to  the  Apostle's  gaze ;  an  angel 
stands  by  the  altar  of  incense,  with  a  golden  cen- 
ser, and  much  incense,  which  he  offers  up  with 
the  prayers  of  the  saints.  Symbolic  though  these 
representations  be,  the  absence  of  any  other 
altar  is  not  without  significance. 

Now  we  come  to  the  New  Testament,  where 


I  74  WIIA  T  ALTAR  HA  VE    WE  ? 

worship  is  set  up  by  the  Apostles  and  a  church 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  reconstructed.  But  we  miss 
all  allusion  to  an  altar  of  any  kind.  It  is  of  no 
importance  that  distinct  religious  edifices  for 
Christian  purposes  were  not  erected  in  Apostolic 
times.  If  the  altar  had  been  an  essential  part 
of  the  Christian  ritual,  it  would  have  been  pro- 
vided for,  as  truly  as  by  Abraham  or  Noah. 
The  early  Christians  were  at  home  in  the  syna- 
gogue which  had  no  altar  ;  and  their  simple  wor- 
ship easily  accommodated  itself  to  the  private 
house. 

Not  that  there  is  silence  regarding  all  sacri- 
fice ;  on  the  contrary,  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  is 
constantly  on  the  lips  of  the  preachers  of  the 
gospel.  They  "  glory  in  the  Cross,''  where  the 
Redeemer  "  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  him- 
self— Heb.  9:  26.  They  speak  of  the  shedding 
of  blood  which  "  cleanseth  from  all  sin,"  and  of 
a  Saviour  who  "  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins.'' 
But  they  give  no  hint  of  a  Christian  altar  for  any 
renewal  or  presentation  or  representation  of  that 
offering.  They  have  indeed  a  rite  for  the  show- 
ing forth  of  Christ's  death  ;  but  it  has  no  altar 
or  sacred  place  connected  with  it.     Its  only  re- 


IFI/J  T  AL  TAR  HA  VE    WE  ? 


i;5 


quisites  are  those  of  a  simple  meal,  and  it  can  be 
observed  anywhere  and  at  any  time. 

They  do  indeed  speak  of  a  Christian  sacrifice, 
but  it  is  always  defined  in  its  nature  so  strictly 
that  it  cannot  be  confounded  with  the  one  offer- 
ing. They  offer  a  living  sacrifice — (Rom.  12  :  i) 
— but  it  is  the  daily  consecration  of  themselves 
to  God.  It  is  not  resemblance  to  the  Hebrew 
sacrifice,  but  contrast  with  it,  that  gives  point  to 
the  statement.  They  offer  a  sacrifice,  but  it  is 
not  in  any  distinct  or  exclusive  way  in  the 
Lord's  Supper ;  it  is  the  "  sacrifice  of  praise," — 
(Heb.  13:  15) — "that  is  the  fruit  of  the  lips, 
giving  thanks  to  His  name."  And  when  they 
say,  "  we  have  an  altar,'' — (Heb.  13:  10) — it  is 
not  to  assert  that  in  any  form  answering  to  the 
Jewish,  they  offer  sacrifice  ;  it  is  to  assert  the 
radical  difference  between  the  Jewish  method 
and  theirs,  a  difference  so  radical  that  serving  at 
both  is  impossible.  He  who  would  be  a  priest 
at  the  Jewish  altar,  and  go  on  sacrificing,  by 
that  very  fact  shuts  himself  out  from  the  spirit- 
ual provision  of  which  the  Christian  shares  and 
to  which  the  Redeemer  alluded  as  eating  His 
flesh  and  drinking    His  blood, — (John  6:   54-55) 


I ']6  WHA  T  ALTAR  HA  VE   WE ? 

— that  is  having  Him  so  incorporated  with  us, 
and  us  with  Him,  that  we  shall  be  as  one  before 
God. 

This  being  the  case,  it  is  obvious  that  our 
fathers  of  the  Reformation  did  not  obey  a  mere 
fanatical  impulse  when  they  cast  out  altars. 
They  logically  followed  out  a  principle  funda- 
mental in  Christianity,  that  Christ's  sacrifice  is 
complete  forever,  and  that  we  do  not  repeat,  or 
re-present,  but  plead  it.  To  turn  the  people 
to  "  a  pure  language''  on  th'is  subject,  would  be 
no  inconsiderable  gain.  Educated  persons,  of 
course,  know  that  the  "  hymeneal  altar,''  of  the 
newspapers,  comes  to  us  not  from  Judaism,  but 
from  heathenism,  with  its  Hyman  as  God  of 
marriage.  The  Christian  church  in  mediaeval 
days  made  the  altar  everything;  and  the  sup- 
posed "sacrifice"  thereon  naturally  drove  the 
people  to  worship  and  adore  on  their  knees.  It 
was  no  narrowness,  it  was  a  wise  precaution  that 
discouraged  this  "  appearance  of  evil,"  and 
taught  men  to  sit  at  the  communion  table,  and 
to  stand  up  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism.  If 
the  evil  never  had  gained  place  in  the  world, 
reverence  might  have  safely  expressed  itself  by 


WHA  T  AL  TAR  HA  VE    WE  ? 


177 


the  lowliest  attitude  ;  but  the  theoretical  and 
practical  error  still  remaining  and  still  asserting 
itself,  it  is  safe  for  Christian  churches  to  with- 
hold anything  which  might  be  construed  into 
low  partial  approbation. 


WHAT  IS   THE   VALUE    OF    "THE  FA- 
THERS?" 


Y  *'  the  fathers"  we  mean,  in  common 
with  all  Christendom,  the  early  writers 
of  the  Christian  church.  Their  pro- 
ductions and  the  discussions  to  which 
they  have  given  rise  are  frequently  described  as 
Patristic  Literature.  In  the  nature  of  the  case, 
early  church  history  has  much  to  do  with  these 
venerable  records  ;  and  all  good  men,  whatever 
degree  of  authority  they  may  attach  to  the 
documents,  must  regard  them  with  profound  in- 
terest. 

The  fathers  are  distinguished  variously  ;  as, 
by  the  date  of  their  productions;  the  nature  of 
their  works ;  and  the  language  in  which  they 
wrote.  So  we  have  the  "  apostolical "  fathers, 
who  were  cotemporary  in  part  with  the  apostles, 


rVI/A  T  IS  THE   VAL  UE 


179 


or  some  of  them  ;  the  "  apologetic"  fathers,  who 
entered  the  hsts  of  controversy  and  defended 
Christianity  on  the  field  of  literature  ;  and  the 
Greek  and  Latin  fathers,  a  distinction  of  no 
great  value,  except  as  suggesting  peculiarities 
of  modes  of  thought  and  expression.  A  further 
distribution  of  them  has  been  recently  made 
into  ante-nicene  and  post-nicene.  In  A.  D.  325 
the  Emperor  Constantine  called  a  Council  at 
Nice,  in  Bythinia,  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Arian  heresy,  the  result  of  whose  deliberations 
on  that  subject  we  have  in  the  "  Nicene  Creed,'' 
part  of  which,  with  some  changes,  is  embodied 
in  the  formularies  of  the  Roman  and  Anglican 
churches. 

The  principal  reason  for  02ir  feeling  some  in- 
terest in  the  fathers,  is  in  the  use  that  it  has 
been  attempted  to  make  of  them  for  the  revival 
of  mediaeval  religion  ;  for  the  re-establishment 
of  sacerdotalism,  or  the  religion  of  the  priest ; 
and  the  undoing  of  the  work  of  the  reformation. 
With  the  growing  practical  activity  of  modern 
times,  and  the  increasing  authorship  of  the 
.churches,  there  had  been  little  attention  paid  to 
this  department    of   ancient   hterature   till  the 


1 80  OF  "  THE  FA  THERS  ?  " 

"  Oxford  movement,"  claiming  to  found  itself 
on  the  ancient  authorities,  compelled  attention 
to  them.  Men  take  the  unknown,  if  it  be  osten- 
tatiously presented,  as  very  great  ;  and  num- 
bers of  persons  bowed  in  silent  submission  be- 
fore the  learned  quotation  of  "  one  of  the 
fathers,"  ^s  an  end  of  all  controversy.  As  nerv- 
ous horses  are  cured  by  compelling  them  to  face 
the  dreaded  object ;  as  ghosts  lose  their  terrors 
when  boldly  faced,  so  the  terrors  of  "  the  fa- 
thers''  have  been  sensibly  diminished  by  the 
acquaintance  with  them  which  a  good  English 
translation  renders  easy.  There  is  now  no  ex- 
cuse for  any  blind  deference  to  alleged  extracts 
and  authorities  from  these  ancient  writers,  when 
their  works  can  be  procured  for  a  few  dollars, 
and  examined  by  an  ordinary  English  reader 
with  the  same  ease  with  which  he  examines  Ed- 
wards, Andrews,  or  Jeremy  Taylor. 

If  we  do  not  yield  to  these  venerable  writers 
the  unquestioning  submission  that  has  been  de- 
manded for  them,  we  are  not  the  less  ready  to 
appreciate  the  light  they  cast  on  the  customs, 
usages,  and  circumstances  of  the  early  church. 
Nor  do  we  fail   to  see  a  value  they  have   never 


WHA  T  IS  THE   VAL  UE  1 8 1 

contemplated  by  those  who  exaggerate  their 
worth,  namely,  in  displaying  by  contrast  the 
dignity  of  style,  moderation  of  sentiment,  and 
consistency  of  parts,  of  those  inspired  oracles 
which  they  approach  in  time,  but  from  which 
they  are  divided  by  a  great  gulf  in  everything 
else.  We  can  readily  admit  all  this,  and  at  the 
same  time  own  that  for  the  purpose  of  teaching 
Christian  truth,  the  works  of  the  late  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Alexander  are  of  more  value  than  the 
"apostolical  fathers." 

Good  service  was  rendered  some  years  ago 
by  the  Rev.  John  Harrison,  an  English  curate 
near  Sheffield,  on  the  subject  of  the  authority 
of  the  Fathers,  in  a  work  directed  against  the 
Anglo-Catholic  view  of  apostolic  succession,  and 
its  affiliated  doctrines.  Mr.  Harrison,*  by  a 
careful  and  laborious  collation  of  the  waiters  of 
the  first  six  centuries  has  shown  that  by  them  no 
such  view  of  the  Church  and  its  ministry  is 
countenanced,  as  is  urged  on  England  at  the 
present  time.  In  the  course  of  his  examination 
he   has  proved    that    traditional  misquotations, 

*  Whose  are  the  Fathers.     London  :  Longmans,  Green 
&  Co.,  1867. 


1 82  OF  "  THE  FA  THERS?  " 

garbled  extracts,  and  extravagant  mistransla- 
tions have  been  doing  duty  in  the  pages  of  men 
so  distinguished  as  Dr.  Andrews,  Bishop  Words- 
worth, the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  Dean  Hook,  and 
Mr.  Gladstone,  in  days  when  he  was  a  greater 
authority  in  High-Church  religion  than  in  poli- 
tics. 

The  argument  of  the  Anglo-Catholics  has 
been  that  whatever  is  agreed  on  by  the  early 
fathers  binds  the  church.  This  is  no  more  than 
the  rule  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to  interpret  the 
scriptures  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
fathers,  a  condition  as  probably  attainable  as  the 
squaring  of  the  circle,  or  the  realization  of  per- 
petual motion.  But  there  are  certain  simple  and 
obvious  matters  about  which  the  Apostolical 
fathers  do  come  very  near  harmony — which 
nevertheless  have  been  ignored  by  their  obsequi- 
ous followers.  Two  of  those  touched  by  Mr. 
Harrison  may  be  mentioned.  All  the  authority 
of  the  Apostolic  fathers  is  in  favor  of  standing 
at  prayer  on  Sundays  and  certain  holidays  ;  but 
the  very  lowliest  and  most  frequent  kneeling  and 
prostration  find  favor  among  the  Ritualists, 
Nothing  is  of  more  moment   in   modern   Anelo- 


WHAT  IS  THE   VALUE  1 83 

Catholicism  than  that  the  chancel,  the  most  sacred 
part  of  the  church,  should  be  at  the  east  end. 
The  use  of  the  compass  is  recommended  to 
architects,  by  Dean  Hook,  that  they  may  give 
the  building  the  proper  orthodox  bearings,  and 
even  sextons  are  to  use  the  same  helps  in  placing 
graves  due  east  and  west.  But  the  examination 
of  the  fathers  shows  that  as  late  as  the  fifth  cen- 
tury the  exact  opposite  was  the  Christian 
method,  and  that  the  west  end  was  the  sacred 
end  of  the  church  ;  and  strangely  enough  some 
of  the  evidence  of  this  fact  passed  through  the 
hands  of  Drs.  Pusey,  Keble,  and  I^Tewman,  in  a 
work  of  Cyril,  which  they  edited. 

In  the  full  belief  that  the  best  cure  for  a 
superstitious  regard  for  the  fathers  is  a  little 
knowledge  of  them,  we  venture  on  a  modest  in- 
troduction to  the  names  and  remains  of  those 
known  as  Apostolical,  and  whose  authority  may 
be  naturally  supposed  the  very  greatest. 

For  a  long  time  the  Epistle  of  BARNABAS 
held  rank  as  the  earliest  production  of  the  Apos- 
tolic fathers,  and  was  credited  to  the  compan- 
ion of  Paul's  labors.  Scarcely  any  scholar  now 
attributes  it  to  him,  nor  can  the  author's  name 


1  84  OF  "  THE  FA  THERS?  " 

be  fixed.  Though  other  fathers,  Hke  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  attribute  it  to  Barnabas  the  Levite, 
its  internal  evidence  condemns  it.  It  includes 
within  thirty-five  octavo  pages  absurd  and  tri- 
fling interpretations  of  scripture,  numerous  inac- 
curacies as  to  Mosaic  enactments — (very  inex- 
cusable in  a  Levite,  if  Barnabas  were  the  writer) 
— and  a  good  deal  of  extravagant  boasting  of 
superior  knowledge.  This  is  the  estimate  of  it 
formed  by  its  careful  translator  in  Clark's  library. 
It  was  probably  written  by  a  Gentile  Christian 
of  Alexandria,  against  Judaism,  and  about  the 
end  of  the  first  century.  Except  as  a  curious 
monument  of  the  past,  it  is  worthless,  even  in 
point  of  style  and  expression  taking  but  a  low 
place.  It  ought  to  be  added,  in  justice  to  the 
unknown  writer,  that  he  did  not  claim  the  name 
of  Paul's  illustrious  and  devoted  co-laborer. 

The  next  of  these  fathers  is  CLEMENT,  with- 
out any  proper  evidence,  supposed  to  be  the 
Clement  named  by  Paul  in  Phil.  4:  3.  Without 
any  identification  of  the  writer  with  Paul's 
friend,  he  gives  us  an  Epistle  of  the  Church 
of    God    sojourning    at    Rome,  to  the   Church 


PF//J  T  IS  THE   VALUE  185 

at  Corinth,  probably  of  a  date  as  early  as 
A.  D.  96.  It  is  feeble  in  style,  but  thorough- 
ly earnest  and  evangelical  in  spirit,  and  gives  a 
good  impression  of  the  heart  of  the  writer, 
though  he  has  managed  to  put  into  about  forty- 
two  octavo  pages  enough  that  is  fanciful,  and 
enough  that  is  fabulous,  to  mark  off  his  produc- 
tion from  the  inspired  writings.* 

Hermas  is  mentioned  in  Rom.  16:  14,  and 
to  him  is  ascribed  the  most  popular  book  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries,   the   Pilgrim's   Pro- 

*For  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not  the  work  at  hand  we 
print  entire  chap.  xxv. 

"  Let  us  consider  that  wonderful  sign  [of  the  resurrection] 
which  takes  place  in  eastern  lands,  that  is  in  Arabia  and  the 
countries  round  about.  There  is  a  certain  bird  which  is  called 
a  phoenix.  This  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind,  and  lives  five  hun- 
dred years.  And  when  the  time  of  its  dissolution  draws  near 
that  it  must  die,  it  builds  itself  a  nest  of  frankincense  and 
myrrh,  and  other  spices,  into  which,  when  the  time  is  fulfilled, 
it  enters  and  dies.  But  as  the  flesh  decays  a  certain  kind  of 
worm  is  produced,  which,  being  nourished  by  the  juices  of  the 
dead  bird,  brings  forth  feathers.  Then,  when  it  has  acquired 
strength,  it  takes  up  the  nest  in  which  are  the  bones  •  of  its 
parent,  and  bearing  these  it  passes  from  the  land  of  Arabia  into 
Egypt,  to  the  city  called  Heliopolis.  And,  in  open  day,  flying 
in  the  sight  of  all  men,  it  places  them  on  the  altar  of  the  sun, 
and  having  done  this,  hastens  back  to  its  former  abode.  The 
priests  then  inspect  the  registers  of  the  dates,  and  find  that  it 
has  returned  exactly  as  the  five-hundredth  year  was  completed." 


1 86  OF  "  THE  FA  THERS?  " 

gress  of  that  time,  held  in  so  high  esteem  that 
its  inspiration  was  sometimes  suggested.  In 
112  pages,  written  originally  in  Greek,  we  have 
a  book  of  four  visions,  one  of  twelve  commands, 
and  a  third  of  ten  similitudes.  The  name  "  Pas- 
tor" or  Shepherd  has  been  given  to  it,  because 
an  angel  described  as  "a  man  of  glorious  aspect, 
dressed  like  a  shepherd,  with  a  white  goat's 
skin,  a  wallet  on  his  shoulders,  and  a  rod  in  his 
hand,  presented  himself  to  the  writer."  After 
respectful  mutual  salutations,  he  said  :  "  I  have 
been  sent  by  a  most  venerable  angel,  to  dwell 
with  you  the  remaining  days  of  your  life." 
Distrusting  him,  Hermas  makes  more  inquiry, 
eliciting  the  fact  that  he  is  a  guardian  angel. 
He  develops  much  imagination,  suited,  no 
doubt,  to  the  taste  and  temper  of  the  times,  and 
the  product  which  Hermas  records  from  his  lips. 
IGNA.TIUS,  commonly  described  as  Bishop  of 
Antioch,  and  who,  by  his  own  account  of  him- 
self, was  more  zealous  than  prudent,  coveting 
martyrdom,  was  long  credited  with  the  author- 
ship of  fifteen  letters,  one  of  them  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary.  But  of  these,  eight  are  now  univer- 
sally admitted  to  be  spurious  and  of  a  later  age, 


WHAT  IS  THE   VALUE  187 

and  the  remaining  seven  are  yet  in  the  fires  of  a 
controversy,  in  which  great  zeal,  learning  and 
ability  have  been  displayed,  and  of  which  little 
other  good  has  come.  Even  those  who  main- 
tain the  genuineness  of  the  seven  are  ready  to 
admit  that  they  "  have  been  grievously  cor- 
rupted and  interpolated."  These  interpolations 
have  evidently  been  made  by  some  zealous  par- 
tisans of  the  priesthood  for  the  purpose  of  un- 
duly exalting  the  episcopal  dignity.*  In  the 
note  below  will  be  found  specimens  of  the  sup- 
posed Ignatian  correspondence,  amply  sustain- 
ing this  view,  and  explaining  sufficiently  the  zeal 
of  Anglo-Catholics  for  patristic  literature. f 

*Rev.  J.  Taylor  in  the  Brit.  Encyc.  Vol.  ix.  p.  491. 
\  "  See  that  ye  all  follow  the  bishop,  even  as  Jesus  Christ  does 
the  Father,  and  the  presbytery  as  ye  would  the  apostles  ;  and 
reverence  the  deacons,  as  being  the  institution  of  God.  Let  no 
man  do  anything  connected  with  the  church  without  the  bishop. 
Let  that  be  deemed  a  proper  Eucharist,  which  is  [administered] 
either  by  the  bishop,  or  by  one  to  whom  he  has  entrusted  it. 
Wherever  the  bishop  shall  appear,  there  let  the  multitude  [of 
the  people]  also  be  ;  even  as,  wherever  Jesus  Christ  is,  there  is 
the  catholic  church.  It  is  not  lawful  without  the  bishop  either 
to  baptize  or  to  celebrate  a  love-feast ;  but  whatsoever  he  shall 
approve  of,  that  is  also  pleasing  to  God,  so  tliat  everything  that 
is  done  may  be  secure  and  valid.  It  is  well  to  i-everence  both 
God  and  the  bishop.  He  who  honors  the  bishop  has  been 
honored  by  God ;  he  who  does  anything  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  bishop,  does  [in  reality]  serve  the  devil." 


1 88  OF  "  THE  FA  THERS?  " 

When  we  have  named  the  Epistle  of  POLY- 
CARP,  a  genuine  letter  of  nine  or  ten  octavo 
pages,  probably  of  about  A.  D.  150,  and  one 
chapter  of  which  is  doubtful,  we  have  reached 
the  end  of  the  list  of  Apostolic  fathers,  and  any 
one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  read  them  will 
be  apt  to  conclude  that  the  extravagant  eulogies 
upon  them,  and  the  claims  rested  thereon,  are 
to  be  placed  among  the  "  great  swelling  words 
of  vanity  "  of  the  apostle  Peter. 

The  limits  of  this  paper  preclude  a  detailed 
notice  of  the  later  fathers,  whose  works  become 
more  voluminous,  and  more  assured,  as  we  fol- 
low the  stream  of  time.  Of  men  like  Origen, 
Cyprian,  Tertullian,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
Origen,  Hippolytus,  and  above  all,  Jerome  and 
Augustine,  it  is  impossible  to  think  otherwise 
than  with  love  and  cordial  appreciation  of  their 
industry,  learning,  courage,  and  general  fidelity; 
while  it  is  equally  impossible  to  deny  the  many 
evidences  they  all  furnish  of  human  fallibility, 
and  of  a  growing  tendency  to  accommodate 
Christianity  to  the  current  of  thought,  to 
smooth  off  its  angles,  to  adapt  it  to  a  state  of 
mind    moulded    by   heathenism,    and   to    admit 


WHAT  IS  THE   VALUE  189 

much  of  that  hierarchical  grandeur,  which  is  at 
once  grateful  to  the  natural  man  of  its  wearer, 
and  which  was  in  those  days  the  supposed  fitting 
accompaniment  of  a  great  corporation,  and  of 
high  spiritual  influence. 

To  show,  however,  that  they  are  not  to  be 
held  responsible  for  all  that  has  been  offered  to 
the  world  in  their  name,  let  us  avail  ourselves  of 
two  texts  of  Scripture,  on  which  Mr.  Harrison 
has  turned  the  light  of  his  investigations.  They 
are  main  strongholds  of  Anglo-Catholicism.  In 
John  20:  21.  our  Lord  says:  "As  my  Father 
hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you."  The  ren- 
dering of  this  verse  by  Dean  Hook,  Dr.  Words- 
worth, the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  and  all  of  that 
school,  is  to  the  effect  that  Christ  thereby  em- 
powered the  apostles  to  give  to  others  the  mis- 
sion which  His  gift  showed  to  be  transferable, 
and  that,  by  inference,  the  bishops  exclusively 
have  the  powers  of  the  twelve.  But  no  father 
has  so  understood  the  words,  or  given  the  An- 
glo-Catholic sense.  Tertullian  puts  the  church 
where  the  Tractarians  put  the  bishops,  and 
Chrysostom  expressly  guards  against  supposing 


igo  OF  "  THE  FA  THERS?  " 

that  there  is  any  comparison  in  the  text  but  be- 
tween the  Father  and  the  Son. 

So  all  countenance  from  the  fathers  is  de- 
nied to  another  favorite  reading  of  the  same 
party,  namely  of  Matt.  28 :  20.  We  presume 
many  a  humble  private  believer  has  comforted 
his  heart  with  the  blessed  promise  of  Christ  : 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end 
of  the  world."  But  Dr.  Wordsworth  could  not 
admit  the  right  of  an  ordinary  Christian  to  ap- 
propriate the  assurance.  He  reads:  "With 
you,  and  with  those  in  whom  your  apostolical 
authority  will  be  continued,  to  the  end.''  But 
Origen  applies  the  text  to  all  believers ;  Cyprian 
even  to  persecuted  women ;  Novatian  to  all 
Christians ;  as  do  Athanasius,  Jerome,  Augus- 
tine, and  the  rest. 

It  is  something  for  those  who  have  little 
time  for  the  study  of  authorities,  and  who  are 
apt  to  have  an  undefined  dread  of  what  they 
have  not  examined,  to  know  that  the  Apostoli- 
cal Fathers  are  readable  and  accessible  ;  that 
their  bulk  is  not  hopelessly  discouraging  ;  that 
evangelical  truth  has  nothing  to  fear  from  them, 
but  everything  to  gain ;  and  finally,  that   the 


WHAT  IS  THE   VALUE,  ETC.  I9I 

main  principles  of  that  Tractarian  System  which 
rested,  in  so  great  a  degree,  on  "  the  Fathers," 
give  way  before  the  fearless  examination  of  these 
ancient  authorities.  Tractarianism  in  thinking, 
and  Ritualism  in  worship,  can  long  sustain 
themselves  on  the  natural  Romanism  of  the 
human  heart,  and  the  natural  taste  for  scenic 
effect,  among  those  who  have  not  the  inclination 
even  if  they  had  the  ability,  to  examine  the 
literary  foundation  of  the  system.  But  they 
cannot  be  sustained  among  those  who  know  the 
Fathers,  on  their  authority.  Next  to  an  accu- 
rate acquaintance  with  the  inspired  word,  the 
best  cure  to  a  mind  of  ordinary  intelligence  for 
unreasoning  deference  to  the  Fathers,  is  a  mod- 
erate acquaintance  with  their  productions. 


IS   THE   SABBATH   FOR   US? 


CCORDING  to  the  book  of  Genesis, 
the  Creator  rested  from  all  his  works 
on  the  seventh  day.  That  fatigue  or 
need  of  physical  relief  made  this  rest  necessary 
is  of  course  out  of  the  question.  It  could  only 
be  for  the  sake  of  example  and  authorization 
of  a  Sabbath  for  the  world. 

In  what  sense  a  day  could  be  hallowed,  or 
sanctified,  except  by  setting  it  apart  for  holy 
uses,  it  is  difficult  to  see.  A  portion  of  time 
can  have  no  moral  quality,  or  conscious  happi- 
ness :  but  it  can  have  dignity  and  honor  put  upon 
it,  by  its  separation  to  holy  uses.  And  as  bless- 
ing the  lower  creatures  gave  them  continuance 
on  the  earth,  why  should  not  the  blessing  of  the 
Sabbath  have  the  like  significance  ? 

We  do  not  need  to  enter  on  a  discussion  as 


IS  THE  SABBA  Til  FOR  US?  1Q3 

to  the  Sabbath -keeping  that  prevailed  in  the 
ages  intervening  between  the  creation  and  the 
Mosaic  economy.  There  is  too  much  evidence 
that  in  the  universal  corruption  that  preceded 
and  necessitated  the  flood,  and  after  the  flood 
made  the  call  of  Abraham  needful,  the  Sabbath 
fared  as  it  usually  has  in  a  godless  and  corrupt 
community. 

Nor  do  we  need  to  put  Homer,  Hesiod  and 
Herodotus  on  the  stand  to  tell  us  of  the  early 
division  of  time  into  weeks,  and  of  the  weekly 
holidays.  They  who  disregard  the  authority  of 
the  Scriptures  will  as  readily  allege  that  the 
Christian  Sabbath  grew  out  of  these  usages,  as 
that  they  grew  out  of  primitive  traditions,  and 
broken  memories  of  a  state  of  innocence. 

Neither  do  we  rest  much  weight  on  the  word 
"  remember,"  in  the  opening  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment ;  as  v/e  do  not  quote  at  all  in  proof 
of  the  divine  intention  the  words,  "the  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man,''  with  the  emphasis  on  man, 
as  distinguished  from  Jews,  since,  if  anywhere, 
the  emphasis  should  be  on  "  made."  We  point 
to  the  fact  that  in  the  very  midst  of  the  com- 
mandments, written    by    the  finger  of  God,  on 


194 


JS  THE  SABBATH  FOR  US? 


tables  of  stone,  and  made  the  basis  of  a  cove- 
nant with  his  people,  God  placed  the  full  and 
explicit  statement  of  his  will  regarding  the  sev- 
enth portion  of  time.  We  see  no  more  reason 
for  setting  it  aside  than  any  of  the  other  com- 
mandments. It  is  as  truly  interwoven  with  the 
decalogue  as  any  of  them.  The  first  secures  ac- 
knowledgment of  God  in  his  unity ;  the  second 
in  his  spiritual  nature ;  the  third  in  his  holy 
and  reverend  character;  the  fourth  in  his  day 
and  right  to  be  worshipped  ;  the  fifth  in  his 
representatives  ;  as  the  sixth  guards  the  person, 
the  seventh  the  purity,  the  eighth,  the  property, 
and  the  ninth  the  good  name  of  our  neighbors, 
while  the  fifth  makes  the  easy  transition  from 
God  to  one's  neighbor,  parents  having  something 
in  common  wath  God  ("  in  the  Lord,"  Eph.  6  :  i.) 
and  with  our  neighbor  ;  and  the  tenth  closes  up 
all  by  interdicting  the  beginnings  of  evil  in  the 
heart.  As  a  careful  farmer  cuts  out  the  roots  of 
weeds  in  his  land,  so  the  Lord  by  this  command 
eradicates  the  germs  of  evil  deeds. 

We  need  not  be  staggered  by  the  fact  that 
public  worship  is  not  enjoined  in  the  fourth  com- 
mandment.       We    may     be    sure    that     under 


IS  THE  SABBA  Til  FOR  US? 


195 


Moses  and  inspired  judges  and  prophets,  the 
commandment  was  rightly  understood  by  the 
people,  and  what  they  did  in  holy  convocation, 
at  the  tabernacle  and  around  the  temple  and  in 
the  synagogue,  was  in  accordance  with  the  well- 
known  Divine  will.  The  Sabbath  synagogue 
worship  of  our  Lord's  time  He  did  not  by  pre- 
cept or  example  stigmatize  as  a  piece  of  fanati- 
cism, or  of  will-worship. 

Nor  should  it  weigh  much  with  us  that  the 
Sabbath  of  Christendom  is  at  the  beginning, 
that  of  creation  at  the  end,  of  the  week.  The 
point  is  not  where  the  holy  time  shall  come, 
but  that  one-seventh  part  of  it  shall  be  given. 
Our  geographical  knowledge  enables  us  to  know 
that  it  is  physically  impossible  to  observe  identi- 
cally the  same  hours  all  over  the  world.  If  the 
Bible  had  made  a  point  of  that,  how  eagerly  the 
second-rate  "  Scientists ''  would  have  attacked  it 
as  evidence  of  "  popular  ignorance  "  in  the  book ! 
The  point  is  that  one-seventh  part  of  our  time 
be  for  the  Lord  ;  and  if  the  Son  of  Man,  among 
other  changes  in  modes  of  approach  to  God, 
made  by  him,  not  only  to  attest  his  authority, 
but  for  man's  good,  should  alter  the  plan  of  the 


ig6  J'S  THE  SABBATH  FOR   US? 

Sabbath,  we  may  be  sure  it  has  been  done  with 
sufificient,  though  undeclared  reason;  for  sove- 
reignty is  not  the  adoption  of  a  course  by  the 
Lord  capriciously  and  without  reason,  but  for 
reasons  of  infinite  wisdom  which  are  not  dis- 
closed. 

Nor  is  there  absolute  want  of  fitness  in  the 
change,  A  completed  creation  was  suitably 
commemorated  by  a  day  at  the  aid  of  the  week. 
But  when  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead  it  was  not  as 
the  end  of  new  creation,  but  as  its  beginning ; 
and  the  commemorative  day  may  most  properly 
come  at  the  week's  commencement.  The  end 
of  the  new  creation  will  be  the  everlasting  Sab- 
bath. 

A  thoughtful  and  discriminating  reader  of 
Scripture  will  not  be  influenced  by  the  alle- 
gations that  are  made  as  to  Jewish  ways  of 
keeping  the  Sabbath  in  the  wilderness.  Who 
has  not  heard  of  the  man  who  was  stoned  for 
gathering  sticks — and  of  the  prohibition  of  a  fire  ? 
It  has  a  certain  plausible  force  to  say, '  you  would 
not  stone  a  man  for  this  offence,  and  you  all 
break  the  commandment  when  you  light  your 
fire.'     It  is  a  sufficient  reply  to  say,  these  things 


IS  THE  SABBA  Til  FOR  US? 


197 


were  not  in  the  commandment.  The  gathering 
of  sticks  was  a  deliberate  and  defiant  act  of  re- 
bellion against  the  government  of  the  Lord. 
It  is  treason,  and  was  punished  as  all  nations 
punish  treason  ;  and  the  prohibition  of  fire 
(Exod.  33  :  5)  was  a  legitimate  deduction  from 
the  forbidding  of  unnecessary  work  on  that  day. 
"  For  domestic  comfort,  fire  was  not  a  thing  of 
necessity  or  mercy  in  the  peninsula  of  Sinai.  In 
colder  regions  it  is  otherwise  ;  and  there  the  law 
of  necessity  or  mercy  regulates  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath."  (Murphy  in  /oc.)  But  these 
particulars  are  not  inserted  in  the  command- 
ment. They  were  matters  of  detail  and  admin- 
istration that  sprung  from  the  principle  of  it, 
while  the  people  were  immediately  and  solely 
under  God  and  in  the  wilderness.  There  is  no 
prohibition  to  us  against  lighting  fires ;  and  as 
to  "  the  sticks "  we  are  not  under  theocratic 
government.  The  conclusion  then  remains,  un- 
touched by  any  objections,  that  the  Sabbath,  or 
the  Lord's  seventh  portion  of  our  time,  passes 
on  from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New — not  as 
a  church  arrangement,  or  a  convenience,  but  on 
divine  authority.   Any  changes  it  has  undergone 


iq8  ^■S  the  sabba  th  for  us? 

in  the  transition  are  not  greater  than  those 
effected  in  praise,  prayer,  and  service  generally. 

So  we  come  to  put  a  practical  question,  often 
asked  in  our  time :  Can  men  keep  the  fourth  Cojfi- 
man-dment  ? 

The  opponents  of  the  "  Puritan  Sabbath " 
are  very  much  concerned  about  the  interests  of 
the  working-classes.  They  overflow  with  sym- 
pathy for  the  sons  of  toil.  They  are  pained  be- 
yond expression  by  the  tyranny  exercised  over 
them  by  rigid  and  narrow-minded  Sabbatarians. 
With  an  eager  and  demonstrative  regard,  de- 
scribed in  other  connections  as  "gushing,"  they 
proclaim  themselves  the  friends  of  the  crowd  who 
in  the  sweat  of  their  brow  eat  their  bread.  That 
a  Mosaic  Sabbath  should  be  inflicted  on  them, 
that  a  day  of  Jewish  austerity  and  gloom  should 
darken  their  week,  is  to  them  intolerable.  But 
it  is  not  alleged,  even  by  them,  that  Moses  in- 
vented the  Sabbath.  It  is  conceded  that,  what- 
ever it  might  be  to  the  enlightened  Gentiles  of 
this  century,  the  Sabbath  was  a  divine  institu- 
tion to  the  Jews.  Now  it  is  commonly  held 
that  the  Lord  was  most  kind  and  considerate  to 
the  Jews.     A  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey, 


IS  THE  SABBAT/I  FOR   US? 


199 


in  which  they  were  protected  and  blessed,  made 
them  a  happy  people.  It  does  not  occur  appar- 
ently to  these  benevolent  reformers  of  social  life, 
that  their  programme  means  nothing  if  it  be  not 
that  they  are  wiser  and  kinder  friends  of  the 
working-men  than  was  the  God  of  Israel.  He 
imposed  the  burden  of  a  Sabbath.  They  will 
roll  it  off.  He  cursed  the  chosen  people  with 
the  sour  sanctity  of  a  weekly  Sabbath.  They 
will  remove  the  curse  ;  their  promised  land  shall 
have  no  such  bondage.  He  either  intended 
a  cruel  yoke  for  the  people,  or  He  blundered. 
They  mean  kindness,  and  they  make  no  mis- 
takes. We  do  not  call  this  blasphemy.  The 
word  is  too  grave  for  such  absurdity.  We  are 
willing  to  believe  that  they  know  not  what  they 
say. 

In  many  cases  these  liberators  of  the  down- 
trodden are  active  in  business.  They  run  rail- 
roads, print  newspapers,  manage  theatres,  and 
even  keep  beer-saloons.  Now,  there  is  a  test  of 
their  benevolence  which  they  can  easily  apply. 
Give  the  sons  of  toil  railway  passes,  free  news- 
papers, exhibitions,  and  "  drinks  "  gratis  on  Sun- 
day, and   then  we   shall   know   the   sincerity  of 


20O  ^S  THE  SABBATH  FOR  US? 

your  benevolence.  But,  gentlemen,  while  you 
make  money  out  of  your  proteges  your  virtue  is 
questionable.  It  is  like  that  of  the  city  friend 
who  keeps  his  "  country  cousin  ''  out  of  the  tav- 
ern because  he  means  to  pluck  him  at  the  gam- 
ing-table. 

However  otherwise  indifferent  to  the  Sa- 
viour's example,  these  reformers  of  the  churches 
and  friends  of  the  workingmen  are  much  edified 
by  what  they  consider  our  Lord's  encourage- 
ment to  Sabbath-breaking  in  His  being  at,  as  it 
is  described,  "  a  large  dinner-party  on  the  Sab- 
bath-day." The  reference  is  to  Luke  14 :  1-24. 
On  this  event  we  make  the  following  remarks  : 

I.  It  was  not  forbidden  in  the  commandment 
to  exercise  hospitality.  "  It  was  usual  for  the 
rich  to  give  a  feast  on  that  day,''  says  the  writer 
of  the  Sabbath  article  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of 
the  Bible,  "  and  our  Lord's  attendance  at  such  a 
feast  and  making  it  the  occasion  of  putting  forth 
His  rules  for  the  demeanor  of  guests  and  for' the 
right  exercise  o-f  hospitality,  show  that  the  gath- 
ering of  friends  and  social  enjoyment  were  not 
deemed  inconsistent  with  the  true  scope  and 
spirit  of  the  Sabbath.     It  was  thought  right  that 


IS  THE  SABBATH  FOR  US?  20I 

the  meats,  though  cold,  should  be  of  the  best 
and  choicest,  nor  might  the  Sabbath  be  chosen 
for  a  fast." 

2.  This  will  not  serve  the.  turn  of  those  who 
wish  to  make  out  that  our  Lord  relaxed  the 
fourth  commandment ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  if  it 
had  been  against  the  commandment,  or  even  the 
Jews'  sense  of  it,  we  may  be  sure  it  would  have 
been  made  the  ground  of  objection  against 
Christ;  and,  secondly,  Nehemiah,  a  Jewish  re- 
former of  the  strictest  principle,  gave  directions 
for  "  eating  the  fat,  and  drinking  the  sweet,  and 
sending  portions  unto  them  for  whom  nothing 
is  prepared,"  on  the  Sabbath,  after  sermon. 
(See  Nehemiah  8  :  8,  10.) 

3.  This  cheerful  view  of  the  Sabbath  cannot 
be  reconciled  with  the  epithets  "gloomy,"  ''mo- 
rose,'' etc.,  so  freely  bestowed  on  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath. 

4.  There  is  nothing  in  the  whole  matter  to 
trouble  any  friend  of  the  fourth  commandment. 
When  a  minister  preaches  away  from  his  home, 
and  there  is  a  second  service,  is  it  uncommon 
or  wrong  that  several  persons  should  have  a 
meal   together   with   any  family  in  the  place? 


202  ^■S  THE  SABBA  Til  FOR  US? 

Who  censures  this  ?  Who  counts  it  a  breach 
of  the  fourth  commandment?  Who  is  supposed 
thereby  to  relax  the  standard  of  Sabbath-keep- 
ing? This  was  as  nearly  as  possible  the  case 
with  the  Redeemer.  "  We  are  not  here  to  un- 
derstand a  public  banquet,"  says  Paulus,  who 
has  no  object  to  serve.  Lange  also  notices  the 
fact  that  the  food  was  prepared  beforehand,  and 
the  family  had  no  special  work  to  do  on  the 
Sabbath.  The  narrative,  therefore,  shows  two 
things — namely,  that  the  fourth  commandment 
was  not  so  gloomy  an  enactment  as  its  enemies 
make  out,  and  that  whatever  it  enacted  was  not 
held  to  be  touched  by  the  Lord  in  this  particular 
case.  Any  argument  therefore  founded  on  it  in 
favor  of  the  relaxing  theory  falls  to  the  ground. 
But  can  the  fourth  commandment  be  kept  ? 
Why  not?  It  enjoins  six  days'  work  and  labor, 
and  a  seventh  day  in  which  men  shall  not  work 
nor  labor.  So  far  its  rule  is  plain.  The  things 
to  be  laid  aside  on  the  seventh  day,  are  not  a 
turn  in  the  garden,  or  look  out  of  the  window, 
or  a  walk  in  the  corn-field,  or  anything  of  the 
kind,  but — the  work  and  labor  of  the  six  days. 
Is  there  anything  impracticable  in  that  ?     Can- 


IS  THE  SABBA  TH  FOR   US?  203 

not  the  farmer  stop  his  ploughs  and  wagons  ; 
the  trader  close  his  store  ;  the  merchant  shut  up 
his  office  ;  Sir  Matthew  Hale  lay  aside  his  law- 
books ;  the  factory  be  closed  ;  the  mill  be  silent  ? 
Any  impossibility  in  that?  But  so  far  as  the 
working  part  of  the  commandment  is  concerned, 
that  is  all  the  Lord  enjoins.  All  the  supposed 
prohibitions  brought  up  to  show  the  impractica- 
bility of  a  Sabbath  are  importations,  inventions 
of  men  who  wish  to  decry  the  divine  appoint- 
ment. 

This  use  of  them  is  not  only  dishonest,  but 
there  is  a  curious  perverse  childishness  about 
them.  So  a  noisy  and  troublesome  urchin,  de- 
sired to  keep  quiet,  replies  :  "  I  can't  stop  breath- 
ing, can  I?''  A  firm  father  would  say,  "  No, 
that  is  not  M^anted  ;  but  you  can  stop  upsetting 
the  chairs ; "  and  then  with  great  propriety  he 
might  punish  him  for  his  insolence. 

Nor  does  this  view  of  the  Sabbath- — as  in- 
volving the  cessation  from  the  servile  toil  and 
business  of  the  six  days — imply  that  the  Sabbath 
meant  nothing  more.  With  a  singular  literalism 
it  has  been  alleged  that  non-labor  is  all  that  the 
fourth  commandment  enjoins.     How  this  is  to 


204 


IS  THE  SABBA  TH  FOR  US? 


be  reconciled  with  the  fair  reading  of  the  com- 
mandment it  is  for  such  eccentric  theologians  to 
say.  How  can  a  portion  of  time  be  hallowed  or 
kept  holy?  It  is  of  no  use  to  tell  us  of  some 
meanings  of  the  Hebrew  word  for  hallow. 
Things  hallowed  lost  their  common  and  ac- 
quired a  holy  use.  How  can  a  day  be  hallowed  ? 
By  simple  non-labor?  The  Jews  did  not  so  un- 
derstand it,  as  their  holy  convocations  and  doub- 
led sacrifices  proved.  The  non-labor  was  not 
an  end,  but  a  means  toward  another  end. 

Besides,  it  is  surely  unlike  God's  way  to 
order  idleness  for  idleness'  sake,  which,  indeed, 
was  the  Pharisaic  idea  against  which  the  Saviour 
uttered  the  protest :  "  My  father  worketh  hither- 
to and  I  work."     (John  5  :   17.) 

If  the  views  we  here  defend  be  true,  then  the 
self-constituted  friends  of  the  working-class  are 
their  foes.  For  any  number  of  persons  to  play, 
some  must  work.  You  cannot  drive,  entertain, 
keep  public  places  open,  enjoy  the  play  in  the 
theatre,  without  work  by  some  class  of  laborers. 
My  dear  friends !  who  throw  up  your  caps  to- 
day because  you  can,  in  defiance  of  the  Sabbata- 
rians, enjoy  yourselves  in  public  places,  you  are 


IS  THE  SABBA  TH  FOR  US?  205 

not  only  false  to  your  class,  you  are  stupidly 
false  to  yourselves.  You  play  to-day ;  your 
turn  to  work  will  come  next  week,  or  next 
year. 

The  contractor  who  is  in  a  hurry  with  the 
house  will  require  you  carpenters  or  masons  to 
work  on  your  holiday,  or  find  another  place, 
which  may  not  always  be  convenient.  The  mas- 
ter tailor  wants  coats  ready  for  his  Sabbath-des- 
ecrating customers,  who  will  "  air  their  new 
clothes  "  on  their  holiday  afternoon,  and  you 
must  finish  them  in  the  forenoon  or  find  another 
job.  One  is  tempted  to  quote  to  you  the  words 
of  one  who  saw  the  blind  fickleness  of  the  mob  : 
"  Ye  blocks  !  Ye  stones  !  Ye  worse  than  sense- 
less things ! "  but  that  might  not  be  respectful 
to  you  or  your  friends. 

If  we  had  any  opportunity  to  speak  to  young 
ministers  on  this  subject,  we  should  say  to  them 
something  like  this  :  It  may  seem  to  you  very 
nice  to  patronize  the  working-man— to  feel  great 
sympathy  for  those  who,  if  not  amused  or  em- 
ployed on  Sabbath,  will  be  in  very  bad  places 
(how  they  themselves  regard  this  estimate  of 
their  habits  is  another  matter,)  and  to  be  very 


2o6  ^S  THE  SABBATH  FOR   US? 

liberal  in  your  interpretation  of  the  Sabbath  law. 
Liberality  is  very  nice,  but  one  can  only  be  lib- 
eral of  one's  own.  You  may  not  have  a  right  to 
give  away  in  this  instance.  The  Son  of  Man  may 
be  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  in  a  sense  that  precludes 
your  disposal  of  it.  Do  not  belittle  your  office 
or  your  message.  Do  not  make  excuse  for  the 
despisers  of  it.  Do  not  give  out  that  the  "  glad 
tidings "  are  dull  and  unattractive,  compared 
with  other  appeals  to  the  intellect  from  the  his- 
torian, the  poet,  or  the  philosopher.  And  if 
they  tell  you  of  pretty  devices  they  have  for  lur- 
ing sinners  out  of  very  bad  places  to  better, 
which  shall  be  half-way  houses  to  the  sanctuary, 
let  your  reply  be,  that  the  chances  are  as  many 
for  men  going  down  to  the  half-way  houses  from 
the  sanctuary  as  for  their  going  up  from  them. 
They  tell  you  of  the  chance  of  "  reforming  " 
men.  God  has  given  the  Gospel  of  His  grace 
for  reforming  men  by  saving  them  ;  and  one  soul 
saved  is  a  more  solid  and  real  gain  than  ten  re- 
formed and  left  to  sleep  in  sin.  They  will  tell 
you  that  some  men  will  stay  away  whether  you 
like  it  or  not.  Very  well ;  they  do  it  on  their 
own  responsibility.     It  is  no  part  of  your  duty 


JS  THE  SABBA  TH  FOR  US? 


207 


to  make  their  consciences  easy  in  it  by  enabling 
them  to  say :  "  The  minister  owns  the  Sabbath 
dull,  his  sermons  prosy,  the  doctrines  stupid,  and 
absence  very  natural,  and  he  sanctions  my  half- 
way house." 

And  if  they  persist  in  telling  you  how  much 
good  somebody  has  done  by  these  non-religious 
devices  on  the  Lord's  day,  turn  away  from  them 
as  if  you  heard  the  Master  himself  say  to  you  : 
"  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead  ;  but  go  thou 
and  preach  the  kingdom  of  God."  (Luke  9:  60.) 


WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF  THE  BOOK  OF 
REVELATION? 

HERE  is  a  true  sense  in  which  it  is  not 
forbidden  to  a  Christian  to  pry  into 
the  future.  Christ  gave  hope  to  the 
disciples  that  the  Spirit  would  lead  them  into  all 
truth  and  "  show  them  things  to  come.''  The 
curiosity  becomes  childish  or  simple  when  it  em- 
ploys ways  of  its  own,  and  in  matters  on  which 
God  reserves  to  himself  the  knowledge  of  the 
future.  He  has  not  put  the  book  of  Revelation 
in  the  Bible,  without  an  object ;  and  it  is  fair  to 
assume  that  as  the  Evangelic  Scriptures  are  suf- 
ficient for  all  evangelical  purposes,  the  apoca- 
lypse is  sufficient  for  all  revealing  purposes. 
Not  that  these  portions  of  Scripture  are  dis- 
tinctly marked  off  one  from  the  other.     They 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  ETC.  209 

blend  necessarily  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
case.  Our  Lord  responds  to  the  questionings  of 
the  twelve  as  reported  in  Matthew,  with  a 
lengthened  prophetical  discourse,  containing 
the  substance  of  the  visions  which  He  gave  at  a 
later  day,  and  in  different  circumstances  to  the 
beloved  disciple.  Nor  can  anything  be  more 
marked  than  the  pains  taken  at  the  outset  of 
the  later  announcements  to  impress  on  the  be- 
lieving mind  that  the  same  divine  Teacher  is  in 
Patmos  that  taught  hard  by  Jerusalem.  He  ap- 
pears in  his  glory.  He  announces  his  name  and 
history.  He  declares  his  purpose.  He  is  identi- 
fied by  one  who  leaned  on  his  bosom  and  stood 
near  him  in  life.     (Rev  i  :   11,  13,  18.) 

Nor  can  it  be'  properly  alleged  that  we  have 
nothing  to  do  with  unfulfilled  prophecy.  Proph- 
ecies are  miracles  of  knowledge.  Raising  the 
dead  is  a  miracle  of  power.  Both  are  evidences 
of  the  supernatural,  credentials  of  a  divine  am- 
bassador, for  which  Pharaoh  and  all  other  men  of 
a  true  instinct  seek.     ( Exod.  ch.  iv.  and  7 :  9.) 

But  apart  from  this  evidential  value,  there 
are  facts  resting  on  the  authority  of  prophecy 
hardly  less  vital  to  our  Christian  hopes  than 
14 


2IO  WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF 

those  that  stand  on  the  foundation  of  history. 
Christ  has  conie — that  is  history.  Christ  will 
come  again — that  is  prophecy.  Christ  has  died 
and  risen — that  is  history.  Christ  will  raise  up 
all  his  people — that  is  prophecy.  Christ  has 
gone  to  heaven — that  is  history.  He  will  come 
to  carry  his  people,  even  in  the  body,  to  the 
many  mansions — that  is  prophecy.  Christ  has 
purchased  a  church — that  is  history.  He  will 
render  her  triumphant  over  all  opposition — that 
is  a  matter  of  belief  on  the  ground  of  prophecy. 
No  arrogance  of  style  therefore  that  men  have 
adopted  ;  no  mistakes  which  they  have  commit- 
ted ;  no  incautious  announcements  that  they 
have  made  ;  should  deter  us  from  examining  that 
prophetic  truth  which  is  bound  up  with  all  reve- 
lation, or  indeed  have  any  other  effect  upon  us 
than  to  teach  us  reverence  for  the  word,  caution 
and  self-restraint  in  expounding  its  obscurer  por- 
tions. 

Two  things  are  done  when  a  sinner  believes 
Jesus  Christ.  He  enters  into  hfe;  and  he  en- 
ters into  a  body,  or  new  and  organized  commu- 
nity, of  which  Christ  is  the  head,  and  which  has 
a  future  in  the  world.     "  We  believe  in  the  holy 


THE  BOOK  OF  RE  VELA  TION?  2 1 1 

Catholic  Church."  The  believer  cannot  be  in- 
different to  the  prospects  of  that  community. 
Nor  will  his  Bible  leave  him  without  apprehen- 
sions. The  earliest  glow  of  hope  regarding  the 
progress  of  the  kingdom  must  have  been  cooled 
somewhat  by  the  ominous  announcements  of  the 
Epistles.  See  for  illustration  2  Tim.  3 :  1-5. 
"  This  know  also,  that  in  the  last  days  perilous 
times  shall  come.  For  men  shall  be  lovers  of 
their  own  selves,  covetous,  boasters,  proud,  blas- 
phemers, disobedient  to  parents,  unthankful,  un- 
holy. Without  natural  affection,  truce-breakers, 
false  accusers,  incontinent,  fierce,  despisers  of 
those  that  are  good.  Traitors,  heady,  high- 
minded,  lovers  of  pleasures  more  than  lovers  of 
God.  Having  a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying 
the  power  thereof — from  such  turn  away."  There 
would  be  organized  opposition  to  the  kingdom. 
See  for  illustration  2  Thess  2 :  4 — 7.  "  Who 
opposeth  and  exaltcth  himself  above  all  that  is 
called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped ;  so  that  he 
as  God  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God.  Remember  ye  not, 
that,  when  I  was  yet  with  you,  I  told  you  these 
things  ?     And  now  ye  know  what  withholdeth 


212  WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF 

that  he  might  be  revealed  in  his  time.  For  the 
mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already  work :  only 
he  who  now  letteth  zvill  let,  until  he  be  ta- 
ken out  of  the  way.''  The  kind  of  war  it 
should  wage  might  be  dimly  perceived  in  the 
writings  of  John,  who  announces  as  to  alarmed 
"  little  children,''  that  displays  of  evil  must  not 
terrify  them,  as  an  unexpected  disclosure,  for 
"  antichrist"  was  to  come — has  already  begun 
his  work.  So  Paul  told  his  son  in  the  faith  i 
Tim.  4 :  1-3.  "  Now  the  Spirit  speaketh  ex- 
pressly, that  in  the  latter  times  some  shall  de- 
part from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing 
spirits,  and  doctrines  of  devils ;  Speaking  lies  in 
hypocrisy ;  having  their  conscience  seared  with 
a  hot  iron ;  Forbidding  to  marry,  and  com- 
manding to  abstain  from  meats,  which  God 
hath  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving 
of  them  which  believe  and  know  the  truth.'' 
Nor  was  it  a  secret  for  Timothy's  own  guid- 
ance, as  an  Evangelist.  He  tells  the  Thcssalon- 
ians  that  ''  the  mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already 
work."  (2  Thcss.  2 :  7.)  How  it  would  work 
they  might  learn  from  living  opposcrs.  There 
was  Deotriphes,  scheming  for  the  preeminence. 


THE  BOOK  OF  RE  VELA  TION? 


213 


There  was  Demas  loving  this  present  world,  and 
quitting-  his  Christian  work.  Had  they  not  Hy- 
menaeus  and  Philetus  declaring  the  resurrection 
to  be  past  already?  Were  not  Judaizers  cor- 
rupting the  simplicity  of  the  truth  ?  All  these 
things  boded  evil :  nor  mere  abstract  evil,  but 
bitter  personal  assault  and  fierce  conflict.  Hard- 
ness must  be  endured.  The  faith  must  be  con- 
tended for.  Fiery  trials  must  be  undergone ; 
and  the  words  of  the  Master  spoken  to  the 
twelve,  "  in  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation," 
and  which  early  believers  might  have  fondly 
hoped,  were  exhausted  in  their  force  in  the  early 
days  of  Jewish  prejudice,  they  begin  to  feel  may 
include  them,  and  imply  for  them  a  very  real 
"  partaking  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,"  they  who 
hated  the  Master  and  put  him  to  death,  hating 
and  killing  also  all  who  bore  his  name. 

How  in  view  of  all  these  things  could  the 
question  be  suppressed  in  the  Christian  heart, 
"  what  shall  the  end  be  ?  " 

Now,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  the 
community  that  is  inquired  about,  rather  than 
the  individual.  The  individual  has  his  promise 
of  personal  safety.     '*  Go  thy  way,  Daniel,  and 


214 


IVIIA  T  IS  THE  USE  OF 


rest."  But  the  new  body,  the  church,  is  in  ques- 
tion ;  and  we  are  not  to  look  for  details  and  per- 
sonal history  written  beforehand,  nor  notices  of 
secular  movements,  nor  the  rise  and  fall  of  em- 
pires except  in  so  far  as  the  future  of  that  body 
is  concerned.  The  discovery  of  America,  the 
art  of  printing,  the  utilizing  of  steam  and  elec- 
tricity, are  mighty  events,  but  they  are  not  in 
the  conflict  in  any  distinctive  way,  do  not  bear 
on  the  issue,  are  not  in  any  form  in  the  Jieart  of 
the  questions  the  church  asks,  and  so  are  not  to 
be  looked  for  in  the  inspired  prophetical  reply. 

We  may  expect  however  that  the  special  or- 
ganized forces  that  oppose  the  church  will  be 
delineated  in  any  answer  the  Lord  vouchsafes 
to  his  people's  eager  inquiries.  And  so  they 
are.  There  may  be  differences  of  view  among 
readers  of  the  scripture  regarding  antichrist  ; 
but  there  can  be  none  regarding  "  the  bride,  the 
Lamb's  wife."  The  chaste  spouse  of  Christ, 
foreshadowed  in  the  Forty-fifth  Psalm,  and 
doubtless  also  in  the  Song,  has  for  her  rival  and 
persecutor  the  great  whore.  Rev.  17:  4.  5.  Her 
identification  with  Babylon  is  complete  enough 
in  V.  5.     Departing  from  the  Lord  is  constantly 


THE  BOOK  OF  RE  VELA  TION? 


215 


represented  in  the  old  Testament  prophets  as  for- 
nication, and  adultery  and  whoredom — bold 
and  startling  charges  that  have  their  basis  in  the 
covenant  union — close  as  that  of  marriage, — into 
which  the  Lord  took  His  Church.  But  the  most 
powerful  and  relentless  of  Israel's  foes  was  Bab- 
ylon.'" It  only  needed  then  to  combine  the 
two  ideas,  infidelity  to  the  Lord  on  the  part  of 
the  spouse,  and  the  acquisition  of  great  power, 
used,  like  that  of  ancient  Babylon,  in  hostility 
to  the  remnant  of  God's  faithful  people,  to  have 
the  representation  of  an  apostate  church,  secu- 
larized, temporally  powerful,  long  in  the  ascen- 
dant, great  in  power  and  visible  resources,  bit- 
ter in  her  hate  of  God's  word  and  servants,  and 
making  war  against  the  saints.  If  anything  can 
be  expressed  in  bold  symbolical  imagery  it  is 
that  this  mighty  power  will  be  utterly  subverted, 
its  glory  taken  away,  and  the  cause  of  truth,  and 

*  That  other  reasons  besides  common  hate  of  God's  true  Israel 
underlie  the  representation  of  the  Christian  apostacy  by  the  name 
of  Babylon,  will  be  rendered  probable  to  any  one  who  will  trace 
the  similarity  between  many  of  the  idolatrous  usages  of  ancient 
Babylon  and  those  of  Romish  Christendom.  Among  the  au- 
thorities in  which  the  parallel  may  be  traced,  we  would  call  at- 
tention to  THE  TWO  BaBYLONS,  OR  NiMROD  AND  THE  PAPACY, 
by  the  Rev.  A.  Hislop. 


4 


2l6  WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF 

the  body  of  Christ  at  length  delivered  from  its 
fierce  and  inveterate  hatred.  (Rev.  i8:  21.) 
"And  a  mighty  angel  took  up  a  stone  like  a 
great  millstone,  and  cast  it  into  the  sea,  saying, 
Thus  with  violence  shall  that  great  city  Babylon 
be  thrown  down,  and  shall  be  found  no  more  at 
all." 

The  method  by  which  the  overthrow  shall 
come,  the  time  of  it,  and  other  circumstances, 
are  left  in  a  nimbus  of  symbol  and  mystery,  the 
existence  of  which  has  roused  inquiring  minds, 
and  stimulated  much  inquiry — none  of  it  proba- 
bly useless  :  but  of  the  issue  it  is  impossible  for 
the  most  unlettered  to  entertain  a  doubt.  The 
sentence  against  this  organized  opposition  is  as 
clear  and  unequivocal  as  that  upon  Adam  in  the 
Garden.  "  For  her  sins  have  reached  unto  heav- 
en, and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities. 
Reward  her  even  as  she  rewarded  you,  and  dou- 
ble unto  her  double  according  to  her  works  :  in 
the  cup  which  she  hath  filled,  fill  to  her  double. 
How  much  she  hath  glorified  herself  and  lived 
deliciously,  so  much  torment  and  sorrow  give 
her :  for  she  saith  in  her  heart,  I  sit  a  queen,  and 
am  no  widow,  and  shall  see  no  sorrow.      There- 


THE  BOOK  OF  REVELATION? 


217 


fore  shall  her  plagues  come  in  one  day,  death, 
and  mourning,  and  famine  ;  and  she  shall  be  ut- 
terly burned  with  fire  :  for  strong  is  the  Lord 
God  who  judgeth  her."     (Rev.  18:   5-8.) 

The  Saviour  claimed  all  power  in  heaven 
and  earth.  He  asserted  for  himself  a  kingdom, 
not  indeed  of  this  world,  or  like  the  kingdoms 
of  earth,  but  a  real  and  true  supremacy  over  the 
souls  of  men.  Will  it  ever  be  given  ?  The 
Book  of  Revelation  supplies  an  answer.  Our 
translators  placed  the  word  "  millennium  "  over 
the  20th  chapter,  not  unfitly.  It  speaks  of  the 
binding  of  Satan,  the  setting  up  of  thrones,  and 
the  life  and  enlargement  of  the  party  that  had 
espoused  Christ's  cause  and  been  faithful  to  Him 
in  darkest  times.  Let  the  attention  of  the 
reader  be  given  to  Chap,  xx  :  4,  in  connection 
with  two  preceding  passages.  \\\  Chap.  6 :  9, 
are  seen  the  souls  of  those  which  were  "  behead- 
ed for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony 
which  they  held.''  Suppose  them  for  a  moment 
to  stand  for  the  Church,  resisted  by  the  Pagan 
powers,  and  appealing  to  God  for  supremacy  ac- 
cording to  Christ's  just  claims,  we  can  under- 
stand why,  in  response  to  their  appeal  (see  verse 


21 8  WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF 

lo)  for  judgment,  and  vengeance  on  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth,  they  should  be  told  to  *'  rest 
for  a  little  season  until  their  brethren,  their  fel- 
low-servants that  should  be  killed  as  they  were 
should  be  fulfilled,"  or  have  their  time.  Now 
we  naturally  look  for  these  brethren  as  we  pro- 
ceed in  the  book.  We  find  them  at  Chap.  xiii. : 
15,  where  a  power  is  exhibited  to  us  (it  does  not 
matter  what  that  power  may  be)  that  causes  that 
"  as  many  as  would  not  worship  the  image  of 
the  beast  should  be  killed."  It  controls,  and 
marks  all  as  its  own,  small  and  great,  rich  and 
poor,  free  and  bond.  It  makes  all  things  subor- 
dinate to  itself  and  its  interests.  It  demands  au- 
thority over  trade,  government,  education,  things 
civil,  and  things  sacred.  Chap.  13:  16,  17: 
Here  now  are  the  "fellow-servants"  of  those 
who  cry  for  vindication  in  Chap.  6:  i,  10,  and 
who  are  told  to  wait  until  their  fellow-servants 
"  should  be  killed  as  they  were."  That  catas- 
trophe having  arrived,  we  naturally  look  for  the 
realization  of  the  hope  that  has  been  raised. 
So  we  come  to  Chap  20 :  4,  and  we  read  :  "And 
I  saw  thrones,"  the  natural  symbols  of  power 
and  authority,  "and  they  sat  upon  them,"  /.  ^., 


THE  BOOK  OF  RE  VELA  TION ?  2 1 9 

the  down-trodden  and  oppressed  who  could 
barely  exist  before,  "and  judgment  was  given 
them  "  (the  very  thing  for  which  they  cried  in 
Chap.  10,  "  how  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true, 
dost  thou  not  judge,"  that  is,  vindicate,  **  and 
avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the 
earth  "),  "  and  (/  sazv^  an  interpolation  of  the 
translators)  "  the  souls  of  them  that  were  be- 
headed for  the  witness  of  Jesus  and  the  word 
of  God,''  that  is,  the  party  of  Chap,  6  :  9-1 1,  the 
Christian  party  as  against  Paganism,  and  "  which 
had  not  worshipped  the  beast,  neither  his  image, 
neither  received  his  mark  upon  their  foreheads, 
or  in  their  hands ;  "  that  is  the  Christian  party 
as  against  a  later,  corrupt,  and  tyrannical  power, 
"  and  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thou- 
sand years.'' 

The  following  facts  will  appear  from  a  care- 
ful collation  of  these  three  passages  : 

I.  The  Christian  party  will  suffer  severely 
under  the  opposition  of  one  force  that  w^ill  hate 
the  name  of  Jesus  and  the  word  of  God.  That 
description  surely  suits  Paganism.  Is  it  to  be 
established,  and  is  Christ  to  be  given  his  power 
on  the  overthrow  of  Paganism  ? 


220  ^^^A  T  IS  THE   USE  OF 

2.  A  second  form  of  opposition  is  to  be  raised 
which  will  not  specially  hate  the  name  of  Jesus, 
indeed,  but  will  insist  on  acknowledgment  of  it- 
self, and  kill  all  who  will  not  bear  its  mark,  openly 
or  secretly,  on  the  forehead  or  in  the  hand.  It 
will  accept  Jesuitical  service;  but  it  must  rule 
or  ruin.  Not  till  this  power  also  shall  have 
been  put  down  will  Christianity  have  its  prom- 
ised ascendancy.  We  see  its  sway.  We  see  it 
fill  up  the  cup  of  its  iniquity  in  the  prophetic 
delineation.  We  see  its  overthrow  there.  And 
then,  the  conditions  of  the  promise  of  Chap.  6 
9,  10,  II  being  complete  in  Chap.  13  :  15-17,  we 
see  in  Chap.  20 :  4 : 

3.  The  promised  "  judgment "  given,  the  vin- 
dication complete,  the  thrones  granted,  the 
crushed  and  hated  party  ("  the  souls  of  them 
that  were  beheaded  ")  rise  to  life  and  power ;  and 
no  foe  appearing,  and  no  force  any  longer  resist- 
ing, it  lives  and  reigns  with  Christ  for  a  period 
of  great,  indefinite  length,  represented  as  a  thou- 
sand years,  after  the  manner  of  symbolic  pro- 
phecy. 

4.  This  is  adequate  reason  for  the  Book  of 
Revelation.     It  answers  the  question  which  for 


THE  BOOK  OF  RE  VELA  TION?  22 1 

hundreds  of  years  must  have  stirred  in  the 
heart  of  all  true  believers — Will  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  ever  be  dominant  ?  Will  the  thrones  ever 
be  His?  Is  the  "all  power"  only  rigJitfiil 
power,  but  never  to  be  actual? 

It  will  be  actual,  as  it  is  rightful,  says  the 
Book  of  Revelation.  But  it  will  be  after  delays 
and  dangers.  "  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  trib- 
ulation." Be  not  dismiayed  by  opposition ;  be 
not  alarmed  by  its  long  continuance.  The 
scheme  of  providence  takes  in  all  this.  It  has 
been  contemplated.  No  strange  thing  happens 
to  you,  or  the  church.  Satan  has  not  sprung  an 
unexpected  force  against  Christ.  He  knows  it 
all ;  is  "  patient  because  He  is  eternal  ;  "  and  in 
due  time,  when  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked 
shall  have  become  so  apparent  that  none  will 
be  so  lost  to  sense  of  right  as  to  defend  it,  He 
will  arise  and  plead  His  cause,  take  His  power 
and  reign,  and  His  church  shall  triumph. 

The  Church  needed  these  assurances.  They 
are  so  indefinite  as  to  the  form  of  fulfilment  that 
no  man's  free  will  is  interfered  with,  and  no  party 
can  corruptly  serve  itself  heir  with  confidence  to 
the  promises  ;  and  yet  they  are  so  clear  and  de- 


222  ^-^^  T  IS  THE   USE  OF 

finite  as  to  the  final  issiic  that  no  heart  that  loves 
Christ  and  His  cause  need  despond.  There  was 
sufficient  reason,  therefore,  for  "  the  Lord  God 
of  the  Holy  Prophets ''  sending  His  angel  to 
"  show  unto  His  servants  the  things  which  must 
shortly  be  done."  (Rev.  22 :  6.)  Nor  was  it 
without  reason,  but  on  a  distinct  and  definite 
principle  that  it  was  alleged  in  the  beginning  of 
this  wonderful  and  most  necessary  section  of  the 
Scripture  (Rev.  1:3):  "  Blessed  is  he  that 
readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the  words  of  this 
prophecy,  and  keep  those  things  which  are  writ- 
ten therein  ;  for  the  time  is  at  hand." 

Did  we  stand  on  an  eminence  overlookincf 
the  plain  on  which  two  armies  contend  for  vic- 
tory, ourselves  ignorant  of  military  tactics,  con- 
fused by  the  roar  of  artillery,  seeing  but  dimly 
through  clouds  of  smoke  and  dust,  catching  only 
glimpses  of  wheeling  battalions  and  ever-shifting 
standards,  we  should  have,  during  the  conflict, 
but  dim  ideas  of  the  result ;  but  when  the  smoke 
c' eared  away  and  the  roar  of  battle  died  out, 
if  we  saw  one  army  off  the  ground  it  held  in 
the  morning,  and  the  other  occupying  it  in 
force,  we  should  no  longer  be  uncertain  as  to 


THE  BOOK  OF  REVELATION? 


223 


the  issue.  And  this  is  very  much  Hke  our 
position  as  we  read  the  Revelation  of  John. 
We  hear  the  blast  of  successive  trumpets. 
There  are  thunders  and  lightnings  and  earth- 
quakes. Blood  flows  like  water.  Strong  angels 
career  through  mid-air  ;  mightiest  forces  come 
into  deadly  collision.  We  hear  the  cries  of  the 
dying  and  the  shout  of  them  that  triumph  ; 
and  we  hardly  know  which  is  victim  and  which 
is  victor.  But  as  the  book  approaches  its  close, 
and  the  tumult  is  hushed ;  as  we  see  that  one 
force  that  had  covered  the  field  is  off  the  ground, 
is  no  more  to  be  seen,  and  that  the  opposite 
power  holds  the  heights,  we  are  no  more  doubt- 
ful as  to  the  issue,  and  we  join  with  "  much 
people  in  heaven,"  and  the  elders,  and  the  living 
creatures,  and  the  multitude  whose  voice  is  as 
the  sound  of  many  waters,  in  the  shout  of  praise 
(Chap,  xix :  1-6),  "Alleluia;  for  the  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  reigneth." 

"  Hold  on,  then,"  this  book  seems  to  say  in 
terms  and  tones  that  are  not  mere  human,  "  ye 
servants  of  the  most  high  God  !  Fight  your 
battle  ;  defend  the  truth  ;  resist  the  devil.  You 
are  no  forlorn  hope,  making  a  desperate  stand, 


224 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF,  ETC. 


with  no  better  prospect  than  to  sell  your  lives  as 
dearly  as  you  can.  You  are  a  part  of  a  victori- 
ous host,  destined  to  world-wide  victory  and 
everlasting  triumph.  The  future  is  all  yours. 
Your  king  is  mighty,  and  can  wait,  because  the 
crown  is  His  by  right,  and  He  has  all  time  in 
which  to  do  His  will.  "Be  ye  therefore  stead- 
fast, unmovable,  always  abounding  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your 
labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 


WHAT   SHALL  THE    END    BE? 


CHRISTIAN  Englishman*  describes 
the  perplexity  of  many  minds  over  the 
fact  that  America  is  nowhere  mention- 
ed in  prophecy.  The  country  seems  so 
large,  and  so  important  a  force  in  these  last  days, 
that  the  omission  of  reference  to  it  appears 
strange  and  inexplicable.  Dr.  Macaulay  men- 
tioned the  matter  to  Dr.  Keith,  to  whom  it  was 
no  difficulty.  This  veteran  on  the  field  of  pro- 
phecy promptly  replied  that  prophecy  takes  note 
of  principles,  and  the  method  of  working  them 
out ;  and  the  method  of  operation  is  the  same 
all  the  world  over.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not 
bounded   by  geographical   limits,  but   is   to  the 

*  James  Macaulay,  M.D.,  editor  of  the  "  Leisure  Hour,"  in 
his  "  Across  the  Ferry,  or  First  Impressions  of  America  and  its 
People  (1872),  p.  365. 

15 


226  WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 

ends  of  the  earth.  He  might  have  added  that 
prophecy  uses  known  terms.  The  naming  of 
America  would  have  given  no  idea  to  a  Hebrew. 

The  human  mind  often  turns  to  the  end  of 
the  world.  All  men  who  think  at  all  must  think 
of  this,  and  any  reflection  on  it  is  unspeakably 
better  than  no  reflection  at  all.  There  is  a  tor- 
pid, indolent  engrossment  with  the  mere  present 
which  offers  one  of  the  most  obstinate  barriers 
to  religious  feeling.  At  the  same  time  we  had 
better  settle  a  great  personal  question — What 
shall  be  the  end  of  us  ? — on  sure  grounds,  before 
becoming  absorbed  in  the  other  question,  What 
shall  become  of  the  world  ?  As  much  as  we 
need  to  know  is  declared  on  both  points ;  and 
where  Scripture  is  silent  we  may  be  perfectly 
sure  the  silence  is  as  wise  as  the  revelation. 

On  the  personal  question,  the  teaching  of 
Scripture  and  the  faith  of  Protestant  Christians 
is  that, 

ia).  Every  man  shall  die  (Heb.  9 :  27);  or,  in 
the  case  of  those  who  see  the  Lord's  second 
coming,  undergo  a  change  substantially  the  same 
as  death,     (i  Cor.  15  :  51,  52.). 

(/^).  The  bodies  of  the  dead  go  into  the  dust, 


IVHA  T  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 


227 


and  the  souls  into  happiness  or  misery,  accord- 
ing to  moral  character,  until  the  resurrection. 

(c).  That  state  into  which  they  go  is  one  of 
conscious  life,  and  not  of  sleep,  as  has  been  sur- 
mised on  slender  grounds,  but  is  not  one  of  pro- 
bation or  purification,  or  of  moral  change.  The 
character  with  which  it  is  entered,  remains.  Ef- 
forts towards  gaining  the  Divine  favor  are  not 
possible  to  the  departed  ;  nor  are  petitions  on 
their  behalf  of  any  avail.  They  find  no  counte- 
nance in  Scripture  ;  nor  is  any  weight  to  be  at- 
tached to  the  fact  that  early  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  they  began  in  one  form  or  other  to 
be  offered.  Many  practical  errors  and  supersti- 
tions began  early. 

{d).  The  ground  of  distinction  and  distribu- 
tion is  the  relation  to  Jesus  Christ.  They  who 
fall  asleep  in  Him  go  to  be  with  Him.  (2  Cor. 
5  :  8.)  They  who  are  not  in  Christ  arc  never  to 
be  with  Him.  He  ''  never  knew  "  those  to  whom 
He  will  say  at  the  final  judgment,  "  Depart  from 
me."     (Matt.  7:  23.) 

The  wider  question  as  to  the  end  of  the 
world  has  many  branches,  such  as  the  evangeli- 
zation of  the  race,  the  future  of  the  Jewish  na- 


228  WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 

tion,  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  the  resurrection, 
the  final  judgment,  and  the  destiny  of  this  earth. 
Here  are  six  momentous  themes,  on  ahnost  any 
one  of  which  so  much  difference  of  opinion  has 
existed,  and  so  httle  detailed,  explanatory  state- 
ment is  made  in  Scripture,  that  dogmatism  is 
inexcusable.  But  there  is  a  safe  middle  ground 
between  having  no  opinion  and  dogmatism.  It 
is  impossible  to  avoid  thinking  on  such  topics. 
We  ought,  so  far  as  we  have  views  on  the  sub 
ject,  to  base  them  intelligently  on  Revelation. 
The  disciples  eagerly  asked  Christ  (Matt.  24  :  3), 
"  Tell  us  when  shall  these  things  be,  and  what 
shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end 
of  the  world  ?  "  There  is  reason  to  think  that 
our  Lord  replied  to  these  questions  in  their 
order.  The  only  objection  to  this  view  is 
founded  on  his  words  (in  Matt.  24  :  34) :  "  This 
generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be 
fulfilled."  But  this  objection  is  obviated  if  we 
regard  "  generation  "  as  "  race  "  (which  the  word 
may  well  be),  and  then  the  meaning  is,  "  this 
Jewish  race  shall  not  pass  away  ;  "  in  other  words 
there  is  to  be  no  end  of  the  Jews  till  the  close  of 


WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE?  229 

all  things.     The  following  points  appear  to  be 
well  established  : 

1.  The  universal  proclamation  of  the  Gospel 
is  to  precede  the  end  of  the  world.  So  we 
gather  from  Isa.  45  :  22,  23.  All  ends  of  the 
earth  are  to  look  to  the  Lord  and  be  saved.  He 
has  sworn  that  every  knee  shall  bow  to  Him,  and 
every  tongue  shall  confess  Him.  So  the  apos- 
tles used  the  words  as  warrant  for  calling  the 
Gentiles  to  Christ.  The  Saviour  himself  said 
explicitly  (Matt.  24 :  14),  "  This  Gospel  of  the 
kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world  for  a 
witness  unto  all  nations  ;  and  then  shall  the  end 
come."  How  far  this  is  equivalent  to  the  abso- 
lute conversion  of  the  nations  is  a  question  to  be 
settled  on  other  grounds.  But  all  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  Church,  all  the  promises  of  the 
Spirit,  and  all  the  obligations  to  teach  and 
preach,  rest  on  the  basis  of  this  divine  appoint- 
ment. 

2.  The  conversion  of  the  Jews  is  to  precede 
the  end  of  the  world.  Among  many  passages 
which,  with  their  preservation  as  a  people,  raise 
the  expectation  of  their  conversion,  the  chief  is 
Rom.  xi.     Old  Testament   poetry  may  easily  be 


230  WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 

misconceived  ;  but  the  Apostle  is  here  specifically 
and  argumentatively  treating  this  very  subject. 
He  says  the  casting  off  of  the  Jews  was  mercy  to 
the  Gentiles.  So  the  gathering  in  of  the  Gen- 
tiles will  be  mercy  to  the  Jews  (v :  25).  "  Blind- 
ness in  part  is  happened  unto  Israel  until  the 
fulness  of  the  Gentiles  '' — the  complement  to  be 
rendered  from  the  Gentiles  to  the  invisible 
Church— be  come  in,  and  the  coming  in  of  this 
complement  will  bring — instrumentally — "  mer- 
cy" to  the  Jews  (v.  31).  "And  so  all  Israel 
shall  be  saved.''  There  will  come  a  time  when 
every  synagogue  shall  be  a  Christian  church. 

There  is  an  appendix  to  this  topic,  namely, 
shall  the  Jewish  nation  regain  their  land  ?  There 
seems  no  scriptural  reason  to  think  so.  The 
New  Testament  takes  no  note  of  it,  and  lays 
down  many  principles  that  bear  against  it ;  and 
any  proof  drawn  from  the  Old  Testament  proves 
too  much.  It  would  imply,  for  example,  the  lit- 
eral restoration  of  nations  absolutely  extinct, 
and  whose  extinction  is  a  prominent  feature  in 
prophecy  and  in  providence,  as,  for  example, 
Moab  and  Ammon.  It  is  more  self-consistent 
to  understand  that  they  who  stand  in  the  future 


WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE?  23 1 

to  God's  people,  as  Moab  and  Ammon  did  to 
Israel,  shall  be  overthrown. 

3.  "  The  coming  of  the  Lord  "  is  constantly- 
held  up  to  the  saints  for  encouragement,  and  to 
the  godless  for  warning  and  terror.  But  the 
phrase  is  ambiguous  in  so  far  as  this,  that  it  is 
applied  to  various  events,  such  as  the  incarna- 
tion, destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  death  of 
saints,  and  any  signal  judgment. 

We  can  only  define  anything  regarding  the 
second  coming  by  collating  the  passages,  and 
examining  in  their  context  the  object  to  be 
gained  and  the  work  to  be  done  by  the  particular 
"  coming  "  of  each  passage. 

4.  We  pass  on,  therefore,  to  the  Resurrec- 
tion. If  we  except  the  doubtful  passage  of  Rev. 
20:  1-6,  there  is  only  one  resurrection  spoken 
of  in  Scripture.  The  rising  of  good  and  bad 
will  be  simultaneous  (Dan.  12:  2).  The  oft- 
quoted  passages  i  Thess.  4  :   16,*  and  i  Cor.  15  : 

*  In  this  passage  the  comparison  is  not  between  the  rising 
of  the  righteous  and  of  the  wiclved,  but  between  the  rising  of  de- 
parted, and  the  change  of  living,  saints.  The  resurrection  of  the 
wicked  is  not  in  question  here,  and  liad  no  relation  to  the  sub- 
ject in  hand,  namely,  the  comforting  of  the  Thessalonians  for 
the  removal  by  death  of  their  believing  friends.  The  same 
Statement  applies  to  the  passage  in  i  Cor.  15  :  51,  52. 


232 


WHA  T  SHALL   THE  END  BE  ? 


51,  52,  have  no  meaning  in  opposition  to  this 
view,  while  the  last  passage  teaches  that  the  end 
comes  after  this  resurrection.  So  our  Lord 
teaches  explicitly  that  the  rising  again  (John  6 : 
39,  40,  44,  54)  shall  be — not  in  the  "  last  days  " 
in  the  general  sense  of  Heb.  i  :  2,  but  with  a 
distinct  and  definite  reference  "  in  the  last  day." 
That  the  rising  of  all  from  the  dead  and  the  sec- 
ond coming  are  cotemporaneous,  is  proved  by 
Matt.  24:  30,  31  :  "And  then  shall  appear  the 
sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven :  and  then 
shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and 
they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory. 
And  he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great 
sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather  to- 
gether his  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one 
end  of  heaven  to  the  other."  And  so  Chap.  25  : 
31-46:  "When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in 
his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  then 
shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory:  And 
before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations  :  and  he 
shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shep- 
herd divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats :  And  he 
shall   set  the  sheep  on   his  right  hand,  but  the 


WHA  T  SHALL  THE  END  BE  ? 


233 


goats  on  the  left.     Then  shall  the  King  say  un- 
to them  on  his  right  hand,  Come,  ye  blessed  of 
my   Father,  inherit  the    kingdom    prepared    for 
you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  :  For  I  was 
an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat ;  I  was  thirsty 
and  ye  gave  me  drink  ;   I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye 
took  me   in  ;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  ;  I  was 
sick,  and  ye  visited  me  ;  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye 
came  unto   me.     Then   shall   the  righteous  an- 
swer him,   saying.  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an 
hungered,  and   fed   t/we  ?  or  thirsty,    and    gave 
thee  drink  ?     When  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and 
took  tJiee  in  ?  or  naked,  and  clothed  thcc  ?     Or 
when  saw  we  thee  sick,  or  in   prison,  and  came 
unto  thee  ?     And  the  King  shall  answer  and  say 
unto  them.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as 
ye  have  done   it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have   done  it  unto  me.     Then 
shall  he   say  also   unto   them   on  the  left  hand, 
Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire, 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels  ;  for  I  was 
an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  no  meat ;  I  was 
thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  no  drink ;  I  was  a  stran- 
ger,   and    ye    took    me    not   in ;  naked,   and  ye 
clothed  me  not ;  sick,  and  in  prison,  and  ye  vis- 


234  ^^^  ^  SHALL   THE  END  BE  ? 

ited  me  not.  Then  shall  they  also  answer  him, 
saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered,  or 
athirst,  or  a  stranger,  or  naked,  or  sick,  or  in 
prison,  and  did  not  minister  unto  thee?  Then 
shall  he  answer  them,  saying,  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the 
least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me.  And  these 
shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment  ;  but 
the  righteous  into  life  eternal."  So  also  we  read 
in  2  Thess.  i  :  7-10.  Concerning  the  meaning 
of  these  passages,  there  is  substantial  agreement 
among  the  most  reliable  interpreters  of  the 
Greek  Scriptures,  such  as  De  Witt,  J.  A.  Alex- 
ander, Mliller,  and  Lange. 

Connected  with  this  in  the  most  intimate 
way  is  the  question,  "  With  what  bodies  do 
they  come?"  No  reply  to  this  can  carry  any 
weight  but  that  which  the  apostle,  gives.  The 
identity  will  be  complete  enough  for  recognition  ; 
but  the  present  terrestial  body  adapted  to  the 
present  terrestrial  world  will  be  changed  and 
adapted  to  the  new  condition  of  things — called 
"  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth." 

5.  It  ought  to  surprise  us  that  various  theo- 
ries have  been  held  of  the  judgment  that  take 


WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 


235 


no  note  of  its  definite  and  conclusive  character. 
With  some  it  is  the  constant  general  providence 
in  which  God  is  ruling  the  world,  with  a  future 
in  which  to  rectify  the  temporary  wrongs  of  this 
imperfect  state.  With  some  it  is  the  ruling  on 
earth  in  visible  glory  and  millennial  splendor  of 
Jesus  Christ.  With  some  it  is  a  process  now 
going  on,  and  in  progress  ever  since  Jesus  came 
to  the  earth.  With  some  it  is  only  the  working 
out  of  natural  principles  that  make  virtue  its 
own  reward,  and  vice  the  means  of  its  own  pun- 
ishment. Rationalistic,  or  hyper-spiritualistiCj 
these  views  have  something  in  common,  and  are 
all  founded  on  denial  or  mis-reading  of  Scrip- 
ture. We  are  taught  to  look  for  a  definite 
future  event,  deciding,  and  publishing,  the  doom 
of  all  men  and  angels,  a  day  of  judgment  (Matt. 
1 1  :  24),  a  harvest  that  shall  forever  separate 
tares  and  wheat;  a  coming  of  the  Lord  to  judge 
(i  Cor.  4:  5).     It  is  a  day  "  appointed.''     (Acts 

17:  3I-) 

The  Judge  is  to  be  Christ,  according  to  plain 
Scripture,  such  as  Acts  17:  31:  "Because  he 
hath  appointed  a  day,  in  which  he  will  judge  the 


236  WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 

world  in  righteousness  by  that  man  whom  he 
hath  ordained;  %vhe?'cof\\Q  hath  given  assurance 
unto  all  mat,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from 
the  dead."  So  John  5  :  22,  23  :  "  For  the  Father 
judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judg- 
ment unto  the  Son  :  That  all  nicji  should  honor 
the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father.  He 
that  honoreth  not  the  Son  honoreth  not  the  Fa- 
ther which  hath  sent  him  ;  "  see  also  2  Cor.  5  :  10. 

The  judged  are  to  be  men  and  angels.  Of 
the  bearing  of  the  judgment  upon  the  latter  less 
is  said  than  on  the  human  aspect  of  the  subject, 
for  the, good  and  sufficient  reason  that  men  are 
mainly  contemplated  in  the  Bible.  But  Peter 
tells  us  that  evil  angels  are  "  reserved  unto  judg- 
ment ''  (2  Peter  2  :  4).  Then  shall  end  forever 
the  long  war  with  principalities  and  power  and 
wicked  spirits,  of  Eph.  6:  12. 

The  time  of  this  event  is  asserted  expressly 
to  be  at  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  (for  no 
third  coming  is  hinted  at)  and  is  constructively 
settled  to  be  cotemporaneous  with  His  appearing 
and  kingdom,  2  Tim.  4:  i.  The  tares  and  wheat 
grow  together   till   the   harvest,    or  end  of  the 


WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 


237 


world.  The  argument  in  i  Cor.  xv.  connects  the 
changing  of  corruptible  bodies  with  the  last 
trump;  and  Paul  to  the  Philippians  (3  :  20,  21) 
tells  us  that  at  His  coming  he  shall  "change  our 
vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his 
glorious  body,  according  to  the  working  whereby 
he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto  him- 
self." 

Without  pronouncing  in  any  oracular  tone  on 
the  opinion  of  those  who  have  been  led  to  other 
conclusions,  we  deduce  from  the  comparison  of 
the  Scriptures  by  which  these  points  appear  to  us 
to  be  sustained,  that  the  "  literal  view  "  of  inter- 
pretation cannot  be  defended  ;  that  the  millen- 
nium, in  the  future  existence  of  which  we  firmly 
believe,  will  not  be  a  new  form  of  the  kingdom 
of  grace,  but  its  establishment  over  the  minds 
of  men  as  generally  as  ever  the  sway  of  evil  has 
been  felt  ;  that  Christ  will  reign,  not  in  visible 
glory,  but  by  his  word  and  spirit ;  that  his  reign 
may  possibly  last  long  enough,  with  its  succeed- 
ing generations  of  good  men,  to  give  to  the  Re- 
deemer an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  race; 
and  that  then,  after  it  has  come  and  gone,  and 
the  earth  has  performed  its  work,  and  is  trans 


238 


WHAT  SHALL   THE  END  BE? 


formed  or  renewed  in  connection  with  the  judg- 
ment scenes,  the  Redeemer  "  shall  see  of  the 
travail  of  his  soul,"  and  that  great  heart  of  love 
"  shall  be  satisfied." 


"  HOW   CAN   A   MAN   BE  BORN  WHEN 
HE   IS   OLD?" 


HEN  England  lay  in  spiritual  deadness 
and  her  church  was  buried  in  formal- 
ism, the  Wesleys  and  George  Whit- 
field were  God's  instruments  for  arousing  men, 
and  challenging  attention  to  the  solemn  and  in- 
dispensable truth,  "You  must  be  born  again." 

When  a  thoughtful  man,  capable  of  following 
his  own  feelings  and  expressing  his  own  judg- 
ments, begins  to  weigh  this  matter,  he  will  find 
various  modes  of  thought  open  to  him  ;  and 
among  them  he  must  choose,  with  the  Word  of 
God  in  his  hand.  He  becomes  conscious  that 
Jie  has  been,  that  is,  his  soul  has  been  acting 
wrongly  in  its  affections,  and  decisions.  Learning 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  given  to  them  that  ask, 


240 


HO  W  CAN  A  MAN  BE 


he  may  resolve  to  look  for  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
come  to  him,  and  produce  in  him  right  decisions, 
and  to  make  him,  that  is  his  soul,  act  rightly. 

But  as  he  examines  the  Bible  he  will  be- 
come conscious  that  it  uses  language  which  im- 
plies a  good  deal  more  than  all  this.  It  speaks 
not  only  of  leading  the  soul  to  do  good,  but  of 
creating  anew,  Eph.  4:  24.  "  And  that  ye  put  on 
the  new  man,  which  after  God  is  created  in 
righteousness  and  true  holiness."  It  speaks  of 
the  soul  as  if  it  were  dead  and  required  life, 
John.  5  :  21.  "  For  as  the  Father  raiseth  up  the 
dead,  and  quickeneth  tJicui ;  even  so  the  Son 
quickeneth  whom  he  will."  He  is  proposing  to 
put  the  ship  of  his  soul  under  a  new,  and  better, 
captain.  These  tests  imply  something  quite 
wj'ong  zuith  the  ship.  Not  the  command  only  is 
defective  :  the  ship  requires  reconstruction.  He 
may  try  this  plan  for  a  time ;  but  his  own 
experience,  and  the  word  of  God,  will  demon- 
strate its  insufficiency.  He  needs  "  a  new  heart 
and  a  right  spirit  ; ''  to  be  made  "  alive  from  the 
dead." 

Warned  by  his  past  mistakes  and  wrong 
choices,  and  finding  that  they  have  not  procured 


BORN   WHEN  HE  IS  OLD?" 


241 


for  him  happiness  but  misery,  he  determines  to 
choose  more  wisely.  God  is  presented  to  him 
in  the  Bible  as  the  blessed  God  whose  favor  is 
life,  whose  service  is  perfect  freedom,  whose 
peace  passcth  all  understanding,  in  whose  pres- 
ence is  fulness  of  joy,  whose  people  have  the 
promise  of  the  life  that  now  is  and  of  that  which 
is  to  come  ;  and  he  makes  up  his  mind  that  he 
will  choose  God  as  so  much  better  for  him  than 
any  of  the  Lord's  rivals.  He  will  receive  the  aid 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  indeed,  to  restrain  the  evil  in 
him,  and  show  him  the  pre-eminent  worth  of  the 
Lord  to  him  ;  and  so  he  will  choose  the  Lord 
and  his  service. 

But  in  practice  he  will  find  defects  in  this 
plan.  It  also  overlooks  radical  and  inherent 
imperfections  in  his  very  nature.  He  is  re- 
garding his  soul  as  a  deliberative  body,  with  a 
party  for  God,  and  a  party  in  opposition.  He 
is  proposing  to  bring  in  a  new  debater  in  the 
person  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  will  be  more 
than  a  match  for  the  opposition,  and  whose  elo- 
quent presentation  of  truth  will  win  a  vote  for 
the  wiser  and  happier  course.  But  this  plan 
fails  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  Bible  lan- 
16 


242 


"HOW  CAN  A  MAN  BE 


giiage.  This  is  not  the  "  begetting"  of  James, 
I  :  18.  "  Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the 
word  of  truth,  that  we  should  be  a  kind  of  first 
fruits  of  his  creatures."  It  fails  even  to  satisfy 
the  requirements  of  our  common  language. 
This  process  is  not  descriptive  of  a  radical  change 
of  nature  but  only  of  the  first  distinct  act  of  a 
changed  nature.  It  is  more  nearly  conversion, 
or  the  turning  round  of  the  whole  man  to  God 
(and  which  is  man's  act  undoubtedly,  in  the 
.'■ense  that  man  does  it)  than  a  sufficient  means 
for  securing  that  object. 

The  question  Avill  arise  —  What  were  the 
qualities  and  tendencies  in  my  soul  that  made 
the  opposition  ?  Why  did  it  not  choose  God  ? 
Whatever  hindered  it  must  be  bad  ;  and  is  it 
enough  for  me,  who  hope  to  be  holy  and  to  live 
with  a  holy  God,  to  have  these  evil  qualities — 
whatever  they  may  be^^though  restrained,  yet 
latent?  Do  I  not  need  that  they  be  taken  away, 
or  rooted  out  ?  He  will  here,  indeed,  encounter 
a  simple  question  of  mental  science,  as  one  often 
must  when  he  follows  out  religious  thought, 
namely,  "  Was  my  Spirit  without  any  qualities, 
good  or  bad,  until  it  took  the  bad  course  ?   And 


BORN  WHEN  HE  IS  OLD  ?  " 


243 


if  it  was,  why  did  it  take  the  bad  course  ?  Par- 
ticularly, wliy  did  it  so  uniformly  take  it  ?  Why 
was  it  disposed  to  the  bad?  Had  it  bad  dispo- 
sitions?" For  one  may  have  dispositions  to 
theft  or  other  form  of  crime,  though  the  oppor- 
tunity never  be  given  for  its  commission.  When 
the  opportunity^is  given  the  disposition  appears  ; 
but  the  opportunity  did  not  make,  it  only  showed, 
it.  He  will  not  find  his  difficulty  met  by  the 
scientific  result.  If  there  were  bad  .qualities  in 
his  soul,  which  the  acts  only  displayed,  all  the 
more  need  for  the  change. 

Turning  from  these  perplexing  views  of  his 
inner  life  to  the  outward  forms  of  religion,  and 
finding  strong  language  in  the  Scripture  re 
garding  "  the  working  of  regeneration,"  and 
"  baptism  saving,"  he  may  conclude  that  God's 
way  is  to  give  the  new  life  through  the  rite  ; 
and  so  he  makes  up  his  mind  to  be  baptized. 
So  he  hopes  to  get  remission  of  sins,  to  get  a 
new  nature,  and  to  become  a  child  of  God.  But 
then  he  looks  to  his  Bible,  and  somehow  it  ap- 
pears there  that  these  great  blessings  are  far 
more  closely  and  frequently  connected  with 
believing   on  Jesus  Christ   than  with  baptism  ; 


244  "  ^^  ^  ^"^^  ^   MAN-  BE 

and  furthermore,  that  previous  believing  on 
Jesus  Christ  is  necessary  to  the  baptism  of  a 
man.  In  fact  he  will  see  that  men  are  not  bap- 
tized that  they  may  get  forgiveness  and  hfe,  but 
as  an  avowal  that  they  have  received  these 
blessings,  and  as  an  acknowledgment  of  them 
as  children  of  Him  who  appends  the  seal  of 
that  covenant  of  which  they  have  taken  hold. 
He  will  also  be  perplexed  by  another  fact, 
namely,  that  many  baptized  persons  give  evi- 
dence that  their  sins  are  not  forgiven,  their 
nature  not  renewed,  and  that  they  are  not  the 
children  of  God. 

When  he  looks  into  this  latter  fact  he  is  met 
with  the  statement  that  the  grace  given  in  bap- 
tism may  be  opposed  and  neutralized,  or  received 
and  improved.  "■  Ah  !  "  he  says,  "  this  is  quite 
another  thing  than  making  me  a  forgiven  child 
of  God  and  a  new  creature.  This  is  only  giving 
me  a  chance  to  reach  this  high  place  by  my  tak- 
ing care  of  myself.  But,  alas  !  so  many  appear 
not  to  take  care  of  themselves,  I  am  afraid  re- 
garding myself  When  baptized,  I  am  not,  on 
this  plan,  a  child  of  God,  with  my  sins  forgiven  ; 
but  it  is  only  possible  I  may  be  such  eventually. 


BORN  WHEN  HE  IS  OLD?" 


245 


This  is  mocking  me  with  high-sounding  names. 
This  is  Hke  insuring  me  a  "  handsome  income ;  " 
and  Avhen  I  inquire  as  to  the  manner,  it  is  by  my 
selling  a  wonderful  number  of  a  doubtful  article 
for  which  the  demand  is  limited  and  the  supply 
enormous.  I  shall  be  rich  if  I  sell  so  many. 
Yes,  but  the  '  if.'  " 

All  the  assertion  and  argumentation  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  or  of  Protestants  recreant  to 
the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  will  not  carry  an 
intelligent  reader  of  the  Bible  over  this  difficulty, 
nor  relieve  this  scheme  from  the  charge  of  being 
salvation  "  by  works  of  righteousness  which  we 
have  done."  It  is  the  outgrowth  of  that  human 
pride  which  in  the  end  renders  "  every  man  his 
own  Saviour,"  and  sets  up  the  religion  of  man, 
or  of  the  priest,  above  that  of  God. 

Nor  will  it  mend  the  matter  much  for  him, 
if,  turning  with  aversion  from  a  sacramental  re- 
ligion, he  should  say  "  I  have  been  choosing  evil : 
now  I  shall  choose  God.  I  can  as  readily  do 
the  latter  as  the  former."  He  here  encounters 
two  sets  of  difficulties.  The  Scriptures  represent 
him  as  unable  to  do  any  good  without  Christ, 
and  as  being  much  more  inclined  to  the  evil  than 


246  "HOW  CAN  A  MAN  BE 

the  good,  indeed  to  be  sold  under  sin,  and  un- 
able to  do  the  good  that  he  would.  Then  in 
practice  he  finds  the  reformation  of  the  kind  he 
proposes  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory,  even 
to  himself.  His  "  heart''  often  condemns  him, 
and  God  is  greater  than  his  heart  and  knoweth 
all  things. 

But  a  man  will  have  derived  some  good  from 
the  trial  of  those  insufficient  methods,  if  he  finds 
out  that  he  has  in  him,  over  and  above  his  men- 
tal powers  and  natural  conscience,  some  govern- 
ing propensities — come  how  they  may— that 
need  to  be  dealt  with,  and  that  determine  his 
character  in  the  eyes  of  any  being  that  searches 
the  heart,  whether  these  propensities  ever  ex- 
press themselves  in  act  or  not.  These  ruling 
propensities  in  our  first  parents  were,  and  in 
holy  angels  are,  holy.  Any  adequate  method 
of  recovery  for  the  man  must  in  some  true  sense 
put  him  under  these  holy  principles,  as  Adam  was 
put  under  them.  When  a  man  is  brought  un- 
der their  sway  he  is  "  created  anew"  or  regener- 
ated. There  are  men  of  whom  we  speak  as  kind 
in  heart,  good,  or  bad  in  heart.  We  mean,  not 
that  they  have  faculties  different  from  those  of 


BORN  WHEN  HE  IS  OLD  ?  "  247 

other  men,  but  that  there  is  a  quah'ty  in  them 
which  inchnes  them  to  kind,  or  good,  or  bad 
courses,  with  those  faculties  common  to  them 
with  others.  So  the  Scriptures  use  the  word 
"  heart."  It  is  bad,  in  this  sense,  towards  God, 
in  the  unrenewed ;  it  is  good,  in  this  sense,  to- 
ward God,  in  the  regenerate. 

It  is  not  to  be  thought  that  the  spirit  of  God 
works  in  us  as  a  man  rows  upward  a  boat  that 
was  drifting  down  the  stream.  Then  it  would 
not  be  that  we  believe,  or  turn  to  the  Lord,  but 
the  Holy  Ghost  believes  in  us.  The  boat  is  not 
the  subject  of  any  change  in  its  nature,  only  in 
its  direction.  And  the  force  under  which  it  op- 
erates is  mechanical,  and  external,  adapted  to 
its  own  nature.  The  spirit  of  a  man  is  not  dealt 
with  in  regeneration,  otherwise  than  as  a  human 
spirit. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
simply  throws  such  new  light  on  God's  charac- 
ter and  claims  that  any  man's  common  sense 
must,  needs  choose  God,  as  a  hungry  man 
chooses  food,  or  as  a  man  prefers  pleasure  to 
pain.     In  this  case  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost 


248  "  HO  W  CAN  A  MAN  BE 

would  be  only  persuasive,*  and  it  is  doubtful  if 
there  would  be  any  better  influence  developed 
in  us  than  intelligent  self-interest. 

But  it  is  to  be  held  that  in  whatever  way  the 
Divine  spirit  made  man  at  the  beginning,  so  that 
in  point  of  fact  he  freely  chose  to  love  God  and 
do  His  will,  in  some  such  way  He  new-creates 
in  Christ  Jesus,  so  that  the  soul,  not  mechani- 
cally, nor  by  any  kind  of  compulsion,  but  of  its 
own  act,  and  by  its  own  nature,  so  truly  that 
it  does  not  know  how  much  is  its  own,  and  how 
much  the  product  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  turns  to, 
and  loves,  and  delights  in,  the  Lord,  and  in  all 
goodness.     This  is  to  "  be  born  again."     And  if 

*  The  writer,  when  a  very  young  student  at  college,  had  an 
opportunity  to  test  the  value  of  a  good  hold,  even  by  the  memory, 
of  the  Shorter  Catechism.  In  the  city  a  "  sensation"  was  being 
produced  by  an  earnest  and  attractive  preacher,  who  seemed  to 
make  the  Gospel  so  easy  on  the  plan  above  named.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  see  the  superiority  of  godliness,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  showed  that.  "  Do  you  see  it.  Yes  ?  Then  you  are  con- 
verted and  are  God's  children."  The  writer  well  recollects  a 
vague  and  painful  sense  of  something  wanting  in  this  presenta- 
tion, when  the  words  of  the  catechism  came  up — "  effectual 
calling  is  the  work  of  God's  spirit,  whereby  convincing  us  of  our 
sin  and  misery,  enlightening  our  minds  in  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  and  renewing  our  wills,  Yit.  $i.o\\\  persuade  ami  enable  us 
to  embrace  Jesus  Christ  for  salvation."  The  preacher  had  a 
firm  hold  of  the  "persuader  t>ut  omitted  the  "enable'' 


BORN  WHEN-  HE  IS  OLD?"  049 

any  one  shall  insist  on  an  explanation  being 
given  of  the  mode,  the  Saviour  has  already  fur- 
nished the  only  answer  we  can  give.  "  The 
wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest 
the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
Cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth  :  so  is  every  one 
that  is  born  of  the  Spirit.'' 

It  is  not  meant  however  that  the  soul  is  pas- 
sive in  the  sense  in  which  a  watch  is  passive  in 
the  hands  of  a  watchmaker,  or  clay  in  the  hand 
of  an  artist.  It  is  meant  that  while  the  soul  is 
active,  so  that  it  can  weigh  evidence,  see  truth 
and  feel  motive,  yet  that  in  reference  to  the  pow- 
er which  the  Holy  Ghost  exercises  upon  it,  it  is 
receptive  and  not  active,  and  submits  to  an  act 
of  divine  energy  which  it  cannot  discriminate  at 
the  moment  from  its  own  movements,  and  can 
only  identify  and  distinguish  by  the  results  that 
follow.  The  regenerating  Spirit  thus  becomes 
not  a  stupefying  force,  checking  effort  and  exer- 
cise, but  an  energizing,  quickening  power,  rous- 
ing the  soul  to  new  movements,  and  inspiring  it 
with  new  and  exalted  capacities  of  loving,  feel- 
ing, admiring,  and  adoring.  Many  a  human 
mind  originally  dull  and  sluggish,  or  coarse  and 


250  "HOW  CAN  A  MAM  BE 

unlovely,  has  been  aroused,  or  has  taken  on  a 
kind  of  refinement  and  elevation,  from  the  intro- 
duction of  that  new  bias  given  by  the  spirit  of 
life  and  holiness. 

In  teaching  the  truth  on  such  topics  as  this, 
it  is  wise  to  notice  the  connection  in  which  the 
Scriptures  present  it.  One  does  not  there  find 
formal  and  detached  statement  of  man's  inability 
to  do  anything  spiritually  good  until  he  has 
been  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  his  mind.  One 
does  not  find  a  demonstration  of  this  fact  such 
as  may  be  proper  enough  in  a  sermon,  and  is 
often  quite  necessary,  particularly  where  formal- 
ism or  pride  is  in  power.  We  do  find  the  truth 
set  forth  in  connection  with  the  positive  way  of 
life.  "You  cannot  thus" — the  word  says,  but, 
in  closest  connection  with  the  paralyzing  nega- 
tive there  is  the  encouraging  positive,  "  You  can 
thus."  We  infer  therefore  that  the  doctrine  on 
this  point  should  be  taught  and  preached  along 
with  the  clear  presentation  of  Christ,  as  the  one 
sufficient,  blessed,  precious,  ever-accessible  Re- 
deemer. In  resting  on  and  receiving  Him,  men 
are  born  again,  in  many  cases  without  particular 
thought    on    the    subject    of  internal    changes. 


BORN   WHEN  HE  IS  OLD?" 


251 


They  are  taken  off  themselves  ;  they  look  to 
Christ  and  in  looking  to  Him  they  become  new- 
creatures.  So  in  that  chapter  of  John's  gospel 
which  most  distinctly  sets  forth  the  absolute  need 
of  being  born  again  (John  3  :  5.)  we  have,  imme- 
diately following,  the  fullest  statement  of  the  way 
of  life.  "And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in 
the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be 
lifted  up :  That  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life.  For 
God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life.  For 
God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  con- 
demn the  world;  but  that  the  world  through 
him  might  be  saved.  He  that  believeth  on  him 
is  not  condemned :  but  he  that  believeth  not  is 
condemned  already,  because  he  hath  not  believed 
in  the  name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God.'' 
— John  3:  14-1S.  So  also  we  have  in  closest 
combination  what  we  venture  to  call  the  neg- 
ative and  the  positive  truth  in  the  followjng 
passages,  the  number  of  which  might  be  easily 
increased  :  "  But  as   many  as  received  him,  to 


252 


"HOW  CAN  A  MAN  BE 


them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God, 
even  to  them  that  beheve  on  his  name:  Which 
were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God.'' — John 
i:  12,  13.  "For  we  ourselves  also  were  some- 
time foolish,  disobedient,  deceived,  serving  divers 
lusts  and  pleasures,  living  in  malice  and  envy, 
hateful,  and  hating  one  another.  But  after  that 
the  kindness  and  love  of  God  our  Saviour  to- 
ward man  appeared,  not  by  works  of  right- 
eousness which  we  have  done,  but  according  to 
his  mercy  he  saved  us,  by  the  washing  of  regen- 
eration, and  renewing  of  the  holy  Ghost,  which 
he  shed  on  us  abundantly  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Saviour.'' — Titus  3 :  3-6.  "  Among  whom 
also  we  all  had  our  conversation  in  times  past  in 
lusts  of  our  flesh,  fulfilling  the  desires  of  the 
flesh  and  of  the  mind  ;  and  were  by  nature  the 
children  of  wrath,  even  as  others :  but  God, 
who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  his  great  love  where- 
with he  loved  us,  even  when  we  were  dead  in 
sir^,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ,  (by 
grace  ye  are  saved  ;)  and  hath  raised  us  up  to- 
gether, and  made  tis  sit  together   in   heavenly 


BORN  WHEN  HE  IS  OLD  ?  '■ 


253 


places  in  Christ  Jesus :  that  in  the  ages  to 
come  he  might  shew  the  exceeding  riches  of  his 
grace,  in  his  kindness  toward  us,  through  Christ 
Jesus.'' — Eph.  2  :  3-7. 


WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 


HERE  is  a  strong  current  setting  in 
among  the  members  of  one  of  the 
smaller  churches  of  the  country  in 
favor  of  what  is  known  as  "  Sacramen- 
tal "  religion,  that  is,  a  religion  which  looks  for  the 
communication  of  grace  necessarily,  and  spe- 
cially, through  sacraments.  This  movement,  if 
in  any  degree  successful,  is  sure  to  be  attended 
by  reaction  against  sacraments,  on  the  common 
principles  by  which  human  nature  is  influenced  ; 
just  as  in  England  the  current  views  and  prac- 
tices regarding  infant  baptism  have  contributed, 
in  no  small  degree,  to  discredit  infant  baptism 
and  increase  the  numbers  of  the  Baptists. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  heap  censure  on  this 
latter  denomination,  in  this  country,  because  of 
the  views  generally  held,  and  acted  upon,  regard- 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS?     255 

ing  the  Lord's  Supper.  "Close  communion," 
that  is,  the  restriction  of  the  Lord's  table  to 
those  who  have  been  baptized  in  the  way  held 
by  the  denomination,  is  being  assailed  by  many 
in  the  interests  of  Catholicity.  Whether  the 
assailants  act  wisely  or  kindly  in  that  matter, 
or  not,  is  an  open  question.  It  is  a  course  of 
doubtful  Catholicity  to  raise  a  popular  cry 
against  a  most  valuable  body  of  people,  who 
honestly  defend  and  consistently  go  through 
with,  what  they  deem  an  important  principle  ; 
and  more  particularly  when  they  have  some 
little  internal  embarrassment  on  the  subject. 
Our  love  for  the  brethren  should  include,  surely, 
the  Baptist  brethren.  "  Charity  suffereth  long 
and  is  kind."  And  it  is  doubtful  if,  considering 
the  lengths  to  which  liberal  ideas  have  been  car- 
ried in  the  country,  there  be  not  some  gain  to 
the  community  as  a  whole  from  a  large  denom- 
ination making  a  stand  at  a  particular  point, 
and  reminding  their  brethren  that  there  are 
church  matters  which  we  are  not  bound,  are 
not  even  at  liberty,  to  settle  according  to  the 
popular  demand,  as  we  should  settle  the  route  of 
a  railroad. 


256     WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 

But  over  and  above  these  local  interests,  there 
is  a  general  reason  for  our  raising  some  questions 
regarding  the  sacraments  because,  lying,  as  they 
do,  on  the  borders  of  the  things  believed  and 
also  the  things  done,  the  things  visible  and  the 
things  invisible  in  the  Church,  and  touching 
both,  it  is  in  them  that  error  has  so  early  and 
fully  developed  itself,  and  it  is  there  that  its 
appearance  is  soonest  noticeable. 

Avoiding  the  nicer  distinctions  that  have 
been  made  regarding  the  sacraments,  Ave  con- 
fine ourselves  to  those  views  which  the  ordinary 
mind  can,  and  ought  to  comprehend.  We  shall 
try  to  present  those  which  we  think  are  sus- 
tained by  Scripture,  and  so  commended  to  the 
judgment. 

The  sacraments  of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  form  a  link  of  connection  between  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testaments.  There  was  much 
bodily  service,  much  employment  of  material 
sacrifice  in  the  Old  Testament.  There  is  an 
almost  entire  absence  of  this  feature  in  the  New 
• — but  the  sacraments  perpetuate  in  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation  what  was  so  distinctive  a 
feature  to  Jewish  believers,  as  a  lower  ridge  of 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS?    257 

hills  represents  the  distant  mountain  range  of 
which  it  is  a  part,  and  conducts  gradually  to  the 
fertile  valleys  below. 

But  why  this  element  in  revelation  ?  Outward 
acts  and  objects  express  and  represent  religious 
truth.  This  we  can  hold  without  establishing — 
what  we  think  to  be  true — that  Baptism  is  the 
successor  of  Circumcision,  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
of  the  Passover.  And  this  use  of  outward  acts 
and  of  material  substances  is  in  harmony  with 
man's  nature.  It  is  a  loose  and  untrue  statement 
that  religion  has  only  to  do  with  the  souls  of 
men.  Men  are  persons  composed  of  body  and 
soul.  The  Creator  formed  man  of  the  dust,  and 
breathed  into  his  body  the  breath  of  life,  and 
of  the  two,  constituted  a  man.  Religion  re- 
spects the  whole  man,  and  the  sacraments  are 
in  natural  and  fitting  accommodation  to  his 
complex  nature.  From  God's  side  they  have 
this  adaptation.  He  teaches,  influences,  and 
blesses  through  material  things  and  by  outward 
and  often  visible  acts.  He  appeared  in  form 
to  men;  He  clothed  them  with  skins;  even  as 
He  had  set  the  symbolic  trees  in  the  garden. 
So  from  man's  side  sacramental  acts  have  a 
17 


258       WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 

natural  adaptation.  We  bow  in  reverence  ;  give 
the  kiss  of  affection;  avert  the  face  in  anger; 
grasp  the  hand  in  confidence ;  lay  on  the  hand 
in  tenderness  or  sympathy.  Our  deepest  feel- 
ings are  expressed,  and  not  only  that,  but  inten- 
sified by  bodily  act.  So  it  is  in  the  sacramental 
actions  appointed  by  the  Head  of  the  Church. 

As  the  Circumcision  and  Passover  of  the 
Jews  marked  them  as  a  people,  "  circumcised  " 
coming  to  be  a  synonym  for  Hebrew,  so  the 
sacraments  distinguish  Christians.  And  all 
men  recognize  the  propriety  of  such  distinction. 
The  foundation  of  it  is  laid  in  nature.  Men's 
looks  and  speech  bewray  their  nationality.  The 
soldier's,  or  the  clergyman's,  costume  is  felt  to 
be  proper. 

There  are  suitable  methods  for  marking  off 
for  proper  purposes,  the  members  of  great  polit- 
ical parties.  In  important  matters  great  lead- 
ers are  felt  to  have  a  natural  and  undoubted 
right  to  the  avowed  and  open  support  of  those 
whom  they  represent.  In  emergencies  the  with- 
holding of  it  would  be  considered  cowardly  and 
criminal.  The  "Captain  of  Salvation"  has,  on 
these  principles,  universally  accepted,  a  right  to 


WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF  SACRAMENTS?      259 

open  avowal,  and  identification  with  Himself,  of 
those  who  follow  Him.  When  "  demonstra- 
tion "  is  to  be  made  in  the  country  for  a  princi- 
ple, and  for  the  chief  who  represents  it,  the  man 
who  would  hold  back,  alleging  that  "  his  heart 
was  all  right,"  would  be  deemed  weak  and  re- 
creant. This  principle  the  Head  of  the  Church 
embodies  in  His  demand  that  he  should  be  con- 
fessed before  men,  on  penalty  of  being  disowned 
in  the  judgment. 

When  Jews  met  in  Rome  or  Alexandria, 
their  rites  constituted  a  bond  of  union  and  fel- 
lowship. The  many  artificial  alliances,  with 
appropriate  signs  of  unity  that  men  have  formed 
outside  the  Church,  testify  to  the  felt  want  of 
association.  This  principle  of  our  nature  is 
accepted  and  sanctified  in  the  Church.  The 
sacraments  become  not  only  signs  of  adherence 
to  the  Redeemer,  but  the  means  of  mutual  iden- 
tification to  Christians,  and  of  conseqent  fellow- 
ship ;  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  they 
could  not  be  thus  universally  accepted  among 
Christians.*     That  drawback,  'however,  is  only 

*  The  more  nearly  the  ordinances  are  obsen'ed  after  New 
Testament  models,  the  larger  the  number  of  Christians  who  can 


26o     WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 

the  incidental  consequence  of  an  earlier  calamity, 
namely,  that  Christians  should  have  diverged 
from  the  truth,  and  that  different  organizations 
should  have  become  necessary. 

The  Church  is  a  society,  and  offers  certain 
advantages  to  her  members.  It  is  competent 
for  any  one  who  enjoys  and  values  these  advan- 
tages to  recommend  them  to  others.  Lay- 
preaching,  on  this  account,  has  its  justification 
in  the  very  nature  of  things.  Any  man,  or,  in 
suitable  ways  to  .be  determined  by  other  con- 
siderations, any  woman,  may  commend  the  bene- 
fits of  the  Church  to  others.  The  only  difference, 
m  so  far  (for  we  are  not  now  looking  at  the 
Divine  side  of  things),  between  the  minister  and 
the  lay-preacher,  is  that  the  former  has  been  en- 
join in  them  as  means  of  communion.  Most  Protestant  Chris- 
tians can  join  in  the  Lord's  supper  with  Congregationalists,  Bap- 
tists, Methodists  (as  the  writer  has  often  done  with  gladness),  and 
Presbyterians.  But  when,  for  example,  kneeling  is  made  necessa- 
ry to  receiving,  the  long  habit  of  disliking  the  appearance  of  adora- 
tion (though  no  such  is  now  meant),  and  a  faun  conviction  as  to 
the  origin  and  history  of  the  practice,  would  render  it  distasteful 
to  many.  But  no  one  pretends  that  kneeling  is  required  by  the 
New  Testament.  So  those  who  would  gladly  submit  their  chil- 
dren to  baptism  at  the  hands  of  ordinary  Christian  ministers, 
would  scruple  as  to  sponsors,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  other 
human  additions  to  the  simple  rite. 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS?      26 1 

dorsed  by  a  body  of  men  more  or  less  weighty, 
and  the  latter  rests  his  claim  to  be  heard  (out- 
side the  word,  which  both  employ)  on  his  per- 
sonal character.  Conceivably  an  amateur  sur- 
geon may  operate  as  well  as  the  educated  prac- 
titioner, but  the  common  mind  feels  that  the 
diploma  of  the  latter  is  a  kind  of  guarantee  that 
he  knows  what  he  is  about,  and  has  at  least  seen 
the  thing  done.  In  the  case  of  women  preach- 
ing, the  average  human  mind  will  attach  some 
weight  to  woman's  general  aptitudes,  and  to  the 
fact  that  the  bishops,  or  elders,  or  presbyters  and 
deacons  spoken  of,  and  contemplated  in  the 
New  Testament,  are  invariably  masculine. 

But  in  the  case  supposed,  when  persons  per- 
suaded of  the  value  of  Church  connection,  desire 
to  enter  it,  no  matter  who  persuaded  them,  they 
must  have  to  do  with  official  persons  who  act 
for  the  Church.  This,  also,  is  in  harmony  with 
the  nature  of  human  proceedings ;  for  the 
Church,  while  a  Divine  institution,  and  not  a 
mere  voluntary  society,  like  an  association  for 
making  a  railroad,  has  a  human  side,  and  being 
composed  of  men,  has  something  in  common 
with  other  societies.      Any  man  may  canvass  for 


262       WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 

an  insurance  company,  or  recommend  it  to  his 
neighbors,  but  when  a  neighbor  would  insure,  he 
must  deal  with  an  official,  who  becomes  the  pro- 
per party  to  sign  his  policy,  not  because  of  any 
personal  qualities,  but  because  of  his  relation  to 
the  company.*  And  even  so  ministers  baptize 
and  administer  the  Supper,  not  in  virtue  of  any- 
thing inherent  in  them,  or  communicated  to 
them  in  ordination,  but  in  virtue  of  the  official 
relation  they  sustain  to  the  Christian  society. 
The  ministry  is  not,  on  that  account,  a  human 
institution,  but  a  Divine  provision  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Church. 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  a  young  man  be- 
comes a  full  American  citizen  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  when  he  begins  to  exercise  all  the 
rights   of  an   American  man.     The  only  thing 

*  When  it  is  stated  in  the  opening  of  the  Book  of  Discipline 
(Chap.  ii.  :  4)  that  a  particular  church  consists  of  a  number  of 
professing  Christians,  with  their  offspring,  voluntarily  associated 
together,  etc.,  the  definition  is  o  a  particular  congregation. 
The  Church  is  in  Section  I.  defined  otherwise  as  a  kingdom 
erected  in  this  world  by  Jesus  Christ.  The  Church  may  be  said, 
indeed,  to  be  a  voluntary  association,  in  contrast  with  the  crea- 
tion of  the  State,  or  with  any  body  constituted  by  force.  Men, 
individually,  are  free  as  to  men  to  enter  or  remain  outside. 
They  are  not  thus  free  as  regards  Christ. 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS?      263 

that  prevented  him  exercising  them  before  was 
something  to  which  he  had  not  yet  attained  in 
himself.  But  there  is  a  sense  also  in  which  a 
boy  is  an  American  citizen  in  virtue  of  his 
parents  being  so,  and  in  the  event  of  his  inter- 
ests being  assailed  by  any  alien  power,  the  pro- 
tection of  the  American  nation  would  be  properly 
claimed  for  him. 

The  same  twofold  condition  attaches  to  the 
adherents  of  a  Christian  Church.  The  children 
are  born  into  it  ;  and  as  Circumcision  and  the 
Passover  belonged  to  the  seed  of  the  Jew,  so  the 
promise  is  to  the  believer  and  his  seed.  The 
children  are  born  into  the  Church.  Baptism, 
among  other  things  that  it  does,  recognizes  that 
position.  It  is  a  mcdiseval  superstition  that 
represents  the  child  as  "  christened,''  or  made  a 
Christian,  in  the  rite  ;  and  the  only  reason  why 
the  baptized  child  does  not  sit  at  the  Lord's 
table,  of  course,  is  the  counterpart  of  the  re- 
straint on  the  vote  of  an  American  youth.  He 
has  to  wait  for  something  to  be  attained  in  him- 
self He  has  to  acquire  knowledge  to  discern 
the  Lord's  body,  faith  to  feed  upon  Him,  re- 
pentance,   love,   and    new   obedience ;   and   the 


264       WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 

attainment  of  these  becomes  the  quaHfication 
for  exercising  a  higher  Christian  privilege  than 
he  has  hitherto  enjoyed.  We  do  not  suppose 
the  parallel  perfect,  but  it  is  sufficient  for  the 
purpose  in  hand,  and  does  not  misrepresent  any- 
thing. 

It  seems  to  follow  that  the  phrase,  "joining 
the  Church,''  is  hardly  accurate  in  the  case  of 
the  immense  majority  of  those  who  are  so  de- 
scribed. They  were  born  into  the  Church  ;  they 
were  baptized  in  virtue  of  their  parents  being  in 
the  Church  ;  they  have  hope  that  they  are  born 
again  ;  and  they  are  now  entitled  to  the  ordi- 
nance in  which  union  with  Christ  is  symbolized, 
and  the  benefits  of  the  new  covenant  are  applied 
to  saints.  It  seems  also  to  follow  that  parents 
should  make  much  of  this  relation  of  their  child- 
ren to  Christ.  The  language  to  be  held  to  them 
is :  "  You  were  given  up  to  the  Lord.  It  is 
evidence  of  His  good-will  to  you  that  He  put 
you  in  a  Christian  household.  You  belong  to 
Him,  and  are  to  trust,  love,  and  serve  Him." 
But  instead  of  this  tone  being  adopted  and 
appropriately  expressed,  how  often  is  the  im- 
pression left  on  the  mind  that  as  a  matter  of 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS?     265 

course  the  children  of  believers  solemnly  given 
to  the  Lord  will  differ  little  or  nothing  from  the 
outside  world,  till  they  have  undergone  a  change 
of  heart.  The  prophecy  fulfils  itself,  and  if  they 
are  not  under  some  thorough  and  satisfactory 
teaching  that  counteracts  this  impression,  they 
will,  while  waiting  for  some  high  tide  of  religious 
feeling  to  float  them  over  the  bar  of  indifference 
and  natural  corruption,  very  naturally  bring  forth 
fruit  after  their  kind.  On  the  other  hand  let  a 
sense  of  God's  right  over  them  be  inculcated 
from  the  beginning ;  let  their  baptism  be  treated 
as  through  faith  a  sincere  and  real  transaction  ; 
let  the  idea  of  God's  love  to  them  from  the  be- 
ginning be  made  familiar  to  them  ;  let  them  be 
taught  and  governed  as  the  Lord's  children  ;  let 
them  be  "  commanded  in  his  fear ;  ''  and  then 
the  recommendation  from  the  directory  for  wor- 
ship (Chap,  ix.),  quoted  with  approval  by  Dr. 
Hodge  in  his  "Outlines  of  Theology,"  would  be 
obviously  proper  and  natural.  "  Children  born 
within  the  pale  of  the  visible  Church,  and  ded- 
icated to  God  in  baptism,  when  they  come  to 
years  of  discretion,  if  they  be  free  from  scandal, 
appear  sober  and  steady,  and  to  have  sufficient 


266      WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 

knowledge  to  discern  the  Lord's  body,  ought 
to  be  informed  that  it  is  their  duty  and  their 
privilege  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper." 

The  years  of  discretion,  amount  of  knowl- 
edge, and  sincerity  of  profession  must  be  judged 
of  by  the  officers  of  the  church.  It  is  not 
always  certain  that  all  the  members  of  a  church 
will  possess  even  average  discernment  and  pru- 
dence. The  officers  may  be  presumed  to  pos- 
sess these  qualities.  One  or  two  indiscreet  or 
self-asserting  church-members  may  by  negative 
votes  make  much  trouble  and  discomfort,  if 
every  applicant  must  secure  the  formal  approba- 
tion of  all  the  members ;  and  the  remark  is 
surely  true  that  the  facility  to  humble-minded  sin- 
cere believers  to  enter  the  church  should  be 
extended  to  the  utmost — the  difficulty  reduced 
to  a  minimim. 

Of  what  the  officers  are  to  judge  is  a  ques- 
tion of  some  difficulty.  If  they  require  the 
applicant  to  state  not  only  that  he  believes 
Christ,  but  the  evidences  he  has  that  he  is  a 
believer,  and  if  they  pass  upon  these,  their  ad- 
mission of  him  is  a  certificate  so  far  of  his  gen- 
uine piety.     This  may  embarrass  a  church  and 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMEN'TS?      267 

injure  the  individual.  It  seems,  therefore,  to 
be  in  accordance  with  true  wisdom,  and  the 
rule  of  Scripture,  as  it  can  be  gathered  from  the 
practice  of  the  Apostles,  to  examine  concerning 
the  knowledge  of  truth,  to  receive  the  profession, 
and  there  to  stop.  Of  course,  no  matter  how 
strong  the  terms  in  which  a  man  living  notori- 
ously in  sin,  professes  true  religion,  his  sin  ren- 
ders his  profession  incredible.  But  when  the 
elders  have  satisfied  themselves  of  his  knowl- 
edge, and  of  his  credible  profession,  they  have 
exhausted  their  powers,  personal  and  official, 
and  the  applicant  is  to  be  assured  that  the- only 
judge  of  his  truth  and  sincerity  is  the  Lord, 
that  "with  Him  he  has  to  do."  This  does  not 
preclude  a  pastor  or  any  Christian  friend  help- 
ing an  inquiring  Christian  to  form  a  judgment 
regarding  himself,  but  it  does  preclude  a  sen- 
tence being  virtually  or  really  pronounced  on 
the  alleged  experience.  The  Elders  say  in 
effect,  "  We  are  satisfied  you  have  competent 
knowledge  ;  you  profess  your  love  to  Christ  and 
your  purpose  to  serve  Him  ;  we  know  nothing 
incompatible  with  this  profession ;  we  receive 
you." 


268       WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 

The  benefit  of  the  Lord's  Supper  to  a  child 
of  God  depends  in  great  measure  on  the  degree 
of  understanding  he  has  of  the  truth  of  Script- 
ure. Detached  from  the  paper  or  parchment 
which  it  authenticated,  a  seal  is  nothing ;  and 
the  Supper  is  nothing  separated  from  the  cove- 
nant whose  benefits  it  seals,  represents,  and 
applies.  A  true  communicant  has  laid  hold  of 
the  covenant,  in  believing  God's  testimony  re- 
garding Jesus.  So  he  has  taken  Christ  as  his 
Saviour.  He  has  rested  on  Him  as  He  is 
offered  in  the  Gospel.  The  Supper  is  to  him 
the  ratification  of  this  agreement  with  God  in 
Christ,  and  communion  is  founded  upon  it. 
The  believer's  faith  is  strengthened  by  every 
new  display  of  divine  love  ;  and  what  display 
more  complete  and  explicit  than  in  the  Supper! 
His  repentance  is  renewed  and  deepened  as  he 
realizes  his  sin,  need  of  Christ,  the  ill-desert  of 
evil,  and  his  unworthiness  since  he  believed. 
His  love  is  called  out  afresh  as  he  beholds  the 
love  that  bought  redemption  for  him  by  suffer- 
ings and  obedience  unto  death ;  and  obedience 
in  gratitude  and  loyal  attachment  is  the  true 
and  natural  expression  of  his  love.     So  all  the 


WHAT  IS  THE   USE  OF  SACRAMENTS?     269 

essential  graces  of  the  Christian  hfe  are  strength- 
ened by  the  ordinances  ;  and  as  the  satisfying  of 
natural  appetite  with  proper  food  has  itself 
been  made  by  our  Creator  a  source  of  pleasure 
to  the  palate,  so  the  eating  by  faith  of  the  living 
bread  is  a  joy  and  delight  to  the  spiritual 
nature.  Saints  sit  under  the  shadow  of  the 
Tree  of  Life,  and  the  fruit  is  sweet  to  their 
taste. 

Just  because  they  do  not  lay  hold  of  the 
covenant,  and  are  yet  in  unbelief,  out  of  Christ, 
and  without  any  spiritual  appetites  to  be  satis- 
fied, or  any  graces  to  be  exercised,  natural  men 
are  excluded  from  the  table.  They  shut  them- 
selves out  by  unbelief.  Their  coming  would  be 
a  declaration  of  the  thing  that  is  not,  a  mockery 
of  the  All-Seeing,  and  a  hardening  of  their  own 
hearts.  They  never  received  Christ ;  how  can 
they  call  Him  then  !  They  never  made  Him 
Master  and  Saviour  by  a  free  heart-choice ;  how 
can  they  confess  Him?  They  do  not  mean  to 
walk  as  disciples ;  how  can  they  truly  declare 
such  an  intention  ?  They  do  not  in  any  spiritual 
way  know  Christ ;  how  can  they  have  communion 
with  Him?     They  have  first  to  give  themselves 


270 


WHAT  IS  THE  USE  OF  SACRAMENTS? 


to  the  Lord ;  they  are  then  joined  to  him  in  an 
everlasting  covenant,  not  to  be  forgotten.  Then 
can  they  properly,  consistently  with  the  word 
and  the  truth  of  things,  join  themselves  to  the 
company  of  disciples  in  showing  forth  their 
Saviour's  death. 


^,M 


^^WM^^S^^^ 


HOW  MUCH  RITUAL  IS  THERE  IN 
THE  NEW  TESTAMENT? 

E  have  no  objection  to  "ritual,"  pro- 
vided it  be  of  the  right  kind.  To 
determine  its  quality  and  value  we 
have  to  find  out  what  it  is  in  the  popu- 
lar sense,  and  how  much  of  what  is  popularly 
known  as  "  ritual  "  is  in  the  Charter  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  the  New  Testament. 

The  "  ritual  "  of  a  church  is  its  established 
method  of  conducting  divine  service.  It  is  in 
form  separate  from  its  doctrine,  and  yet,  in  fact, 
it  is  the  expression  of  views  and  opinions  on 
doctrine.  When,  for  example,  the  "  host  "  (from 
the  Latin  hostia,  a  sacrifice)  is  regarded  as 
changed  from  a  piece  of  bread  into  the  person 
of  Christ,  we  have  a  doctrine.  Out  of  it  most 
naturally  grows  a  rite,  namely,  the  elevation  of 


2/2 


HO  W  MUCH  RITUAL  IS  THERE 


it  before  the  people,  and  their  adoration.  If, 
again,  a  "  priest  "  is  supposed  to  have  official 
power  in  the  matter  of  sin  confessed,  in  some 
sense  not  true  of  a  non-priest  even  though  a 
deacon  and  entitled  to  preach,  then  it  will  be  a 
part  of  the  ritual  for  the  "  priest,''  and  for  him 
only,  to  pronounce  the  absolution.  These  ex- 
amples might  be  easily  multiplied. 

To  say  that  there  is  no  ritual  in  the  New 
Testament  would  be  to  say  that  everything  con- 
nected with  public  worship  is  left  to  the  taste  or 
judgment  of  Christians ;  but  that  statement  is, 
happily,  not  true.  Since  tastes  are  endlessly 
diversified,  and  judgments  are  influenced  by 
many  considerations,  any  degree  of  uniformity 
would  be  of  difficult  attainment  on  this  idea, 
and  the  results  would  carry  little  moral  weight. 
Nearly  all  churches  make  their  appeal  wherever 
they  can  do  it  with  show  of  force,  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  endeavor  to  sustain  their  positions  by 
the  word  of  God.  Where  the  New  Testament 
fails  they  turn  to  the  Old.  Robes,  altars,  in- 
cense, priestly  grades,  processions,  and  such  like, 
suitable  enough  to  the  Jewish  Church,  and  ap- 
propriately   expressing    its    doctrines,    are    de- 


IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT?  273 

fended  on  this  ground.  Where  it  fails,  antiquity 
is  rehed  on  ;  and  where  the  plea  of  antiquity  is 
set  aside,  and  the  Old  Testament  authority  is  so 
defined  as  to  rule  it  out,  men  are  apt  to  fall 
back  on  the  assertion  that  no  inspired  rule  is 
given  beyond  the  general  direction  "  let  all 
things  be  done  decently  and  in  order."  So 
loose  practice,  like  loose  thinking,  always  seeks^ 
to  represent  the  standard  as  extremely  indefinite. 

But  if  any  one  will  examine  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  from  which  this  supposed  all- 
comprehensive  rule  is  taken  (i  Cor.  14:  40),  he 
will  observe  two  things — 

((^.)  That  this  maxim  covers  a  particular 
case  out  of  the  ruling  on  which  it  grew,  namely, 
the  unregulated,  arbitrary,  and  self-displaying 
use  of  gifts  on  the  part  of  Corinthian  Christians. 
It  is  not  a  positive  precept,  so  much  as  a  rebuke 
of  disorders  and  indecencies  described  in  the  pre- 
vious part  of  the  chapter.  To  read  it  as  the  ex- 
clusive direction  for  public  worship,  and  as  sanc- 
tioning all  that  is  not  revolting  to  decency,  and 
productive  of  confusion,  is  to  adopt  a  looser 
method   of  interpretation  than  any  respectable 


18 


2/4  I/O  IV  MUCH  RITUAL  IS  THERE 

expositor   has    ever   ventured    to    apply   to  the 
Scriptures  generally. 

{b.)  He  will  see  that  these  very  Epistles 
contain  many  positive  directions  for  divine  ser- 
vice, as,  for  example,  in  this  very  chapter  (xiv.), 
and  in  Chap,  xi.,  touching  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and  that  many  elements  of  worship  are  pre- 
scribed with  a  clearness  and  directness  which  it 
has  been  found  impossible  to  evade.  Let  us 
look  at  some  of  these  directions. 

The  New  Testament  authorizes  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's  Day  as  a  day  of  rest  and  wor- 
ship. Jesus  never  violated  the  Jewish  Sabbath, 
though  he  disregarded  some  frivolous  Pharisaic 
additions  made  to  it.  He  declared  that  to  make 
sin  out  of  disregard  of  these  human  rules  was  to 
condemn  the  guiltless  (Matt.  12  :  7),  and  he  set 
an  example  of  respectful  compliance  with  Jewish 
law  while  it  remained  in  force.  He  asserted  his 
lordship  of  the  Sabbath,  implying  a  right  to 
modify  its  circumstantials.  His  rising  from  the 
dead,  His  gift  of  the  Spirit,  and  His  own  appear- 
ances, consecrated  the  "  Lord's  Day."  The 
Christians,  by  common  consent,  and  without  any 
question,  met   on   that   day  for  worship  and  the 


IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT?  275 

supper.  The  Hebrew  part  of  them  continued 
for  a  time  to  keep  the  Jewish  day  ;  and  there 
was  an  effort  made  to  perpetuate  this  and  other 
observances,  but  it  was  discouraged  by  the 
apostles.  They  who  chose  might  keep  the  new 
moons  and  Sabbaths  (Jewish),  but  no  obhgation 
was  to  be  enforced.  As  to  these  "  Sabbaths," 
and  not  to  the  Lord's  Day,  was  this  latitude  of 
action  tolerated.     (Rom.  14:   5.) 

The  "  assembling  together  "  of  the  people  on 
that  day  is  enjoined  in  the  New  Testament. 
(Heb.  10:  25.)  This  was  addressed  to  Hebrews 
who  were  accustomed  to  assembling  in  the  syna- 
gogue. The  gospel  was  preached  in  the  syna- 
gogue as  long  as  the  Jews  permitted,  and  inserted 
itself,  as  the  sermon,  into  the  synagogue  worship. 
The  leading  and  controlling  minds  in  every  new 
Christian  cause  had  been  accustomed  to  syna- 
gogue worship.  Just  as  seceders  from  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  when  they  were  either 
driven  out,  or  when  they  went  out  for  something 
they  could  not  find  there,  carried  into  their  new 
organizations  the  old  forms,  only  infusing  into 
them  the  new  life  ;  so  the  Christians  reproduced 
in  substance    the    synagogue's  ways,    with    the 


276  HOW  IMUCH  RITUAL  IS  THERE 

truth  and  spirit  of  the  gospel  added  thereto. 
So  truly  was  this  the  case,  that  for  a  considera- 
ble time  the  Christians  were  counted  by  out- 
siders as  simply  a  sect  of  Jews. 

When  the  Christians  came  together  they 
were  accustomed  to  make  common  supplica- 
tions; and  in  addition  to  the  mention  of  their 
own  personal  wants  with  giving  of  thanks,  they 
are  directed  to  make  prayers  and  supplications 
"for  kings  and  for  all  that  are  in  authority."  (i 
Tim.  2:  1,2.)  This  obviously  implies  that  they 
had  no  settled  forms,  but  were  left  at  liberty  to 
regulate  their  addresses  to  the  throne  of  grace 
by  the  ever-varying  exigencies  of  life.  The  same 
thing  is  implied  in  the  rebuke  of  the  Pharisees' 
"  long  prayers,"  the  notice  of  which  was  meant  to 
raise  them  in  the  esteem  of  others ;  and  in  the 
disorders  of  the  Corinthian  Church,  which  could 
not  have  existed  had  there  been  a  prescribed 
and  settled  form,  (i  Cor.,  chap,  xiv.)  No  one 
can  allege  that  this  matter  of  public  prayer  for 
others  is  left  to  the  taste  or  judgment  of  men.  It 
is  as  much  binding  on  Christian  people  as  the  as- 
sembling of  themselves  together. 

The  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is 


IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT?  277 

also  prescribed  as  a  part  of  the  exercises  of  the 
Church ;  and  many  of  its  arrangements  are  indi- 
cated both  negatively  and  positively.  It  is  not 
to  be  a  feast  in  the  common  sense.  It  gives  no 
field  for  personal  display  of  means  or  comforts. 
Its  receivers  sit  together  in  the  ordinary  attitude 
of  a  meal.  Bread  is  broken  ;* — wine  is  poured 
out.  Both  are  partaken  of  by  the  communi- 
cants. Here  again  the  field  for  human  taste 
and  judgment  is  very  narrow  indeed.  The  same 
authority  that  prescribes  the  rite,  indicates  every 
leading  feature  in  the  mode  of  its  observance. 

The  New  Testament  habitually  assumes  the 
continuance  in  the  Christian  Church  of  all  that 
did  not  expire  with  the  completion  of  Christ's 
work  and  is  silent  on  such  matters.  There  was 
good  reason  for  this  silence.  When  a  pastoral 
epistle  is  written  to  the  brethren  from  Presby- 
tery or  Synod,  say,  to  the  churches  of  New 
York,  it  would  surprise  us  much  if  it  directed 
that  the  people  should  build  church  edifices  for 
themselves,  choose  ministers,  dedicate  their  chil- 

*  How  strange  it  is  that  in  plain  disregard  of  this  symbolic 
act,  and  in  deference  to  a  supposed  transformation,  pains  should 
be  taken  to  avoid  breaking  the  bread  ! 


278 


HO  IV  MUCH  RITUAL  IS  THERE 


dren  to  God,  procure  Bibles,  hav^e  sermons 
preached,  and  worship  on  the  Lord's  day.  But 
why  should  it  surprise  us?  Because  all  these 
duties  are  accepted  by  us  already  and  are  being 
done.  Greater  zeal,  fervor,  and  life,  indeed,  are 
wanted,  and  to  the  attainment  of  these  exhorta- 
tions would  be  properly  given.  It  was  so  with 
the  mass  of  Christian  believers.  They  had  set  up 
their  assemblies,  and  reproduced  the  worship  to 
which  they  were  accustomed,  and  needed  no 
directions  on  these  points.  This  explains  the 
comparative  silence  of  the  New  Testament  on 
the  consecration  of  infants,  the  observance  of  a 
day  of  rest,  the  public  reading  of  Scripture, 
the  erection  of  church  edifices,  and  other  similar 
matters.  The  variations  and  alterations  are 
dwelt  upon ;  the  usages  that  were  to  continue 
have  possession,  so  to  speak,  and  keep  their 
place. 

Now  from  the  gospel  narratives  we  can 
gather  something  of  the  ordinary  ways  of  the 
synagogue.  We  see  from  Luke  4:  16,  17,  that 
it  was  customary  for  one  to  stand  up  and  read  a 
section  from  the  Law  or  the  Prophets :  "  And 
he    came    to   Nazareth,   where    he    had    been 


IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT?  279 

brought  up  ;  and,  as  his  custom  was,  he  went 
into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and 
stood  up  for  to  read.  And  there  was  delivered 
unto  him  the  book  of  the  prophet  Esaias.  And 
^v'hen  he  had  opened  the  book,  he  found  the 
yjlace  where  it  was  written."  This  custom  natu- 
rahy  continued  in  the  Christian  Church.  It  was 
Ihe  custom,  also,  for  the  reader,  or  for  some  one 
designated  by  the  elders,  to  explain  and  exhort 
from  the  portion  read.  So  the  Saviour,  as  he 
returned  the  book,  applied  what  he  had  read  to 
himself,  to  the  indignation  of  the  people,  v.  20- 
30.  In  Acts  xiii. :  15  we  iind  that  at  Antioch, 
in  Pisidia,  where  Paul  and  his  company  attended 
worship  at  the  synagogue,  "  after  the  reading  of 
the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  the  rulers  of  the 
synagogue  sent  unto  them,  saying  :  Ye  men 
and  brethren,  if  ye  have  any  word  of  exhorta- 
tion for  the  people,  say  on."  Paul  accepted  the 
invitation  and  addressed  the  people.  How  often 
have  ministers  been  reminded  of  this  informal 
simplicity  of  the  primitive  worship  when,  sitting 
in  the  pew  hoping  for  the  quiet  enjoyment  of 
the  service,  a  word  from  the  '*  ruler  of  the  syna- 


28o    //OJF  MUCH  RITUAL  IS  THERE,  ETC. 

gogue  "  summoned  them  to  the  desk  to  give  a 
"  word  of  exhortation  ''  to  the  people  ! 

From  this  passage,  also,  we  learn  that  the 
synagogue  had  rulers,  or  elders,  as  they  are  else- 
where called,  who  directed  or  conducted  the 
synagogue  services,  and  one  of  whom,  being 
president  or  moderator,  is  sometimes  called 
"  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue."  This  deference  to, 
and  employment  of,  elders,  was  an  ancient  and, 
indeed,  natural  arrangement.  Even  in  Egypt 
there  were  recognized  the  elders  of  the  people, 
who  had  a  certain  gravity  from  years  and  weight 
of  character.  This  fitness  of  things  was  respect- 
ed in  the  synagogue,  and  as  we  see  by  the  pas- 
toral epistles,  is  regulated  and  perpetuated  in  the 
Christian  Church.  It  is  not  left  to  taste  and 
judgment  to  determine  any  of  these  matters. 
The  Scriptures  speak  explicitly  as  to  "  elders  in 
every  city,"  and  every  church,  as  to  a  pluralit}^ 
of  these,  as  to  their  having  oversight  of  the 
flock,  and  being  responsible  for  the  conducting 
of  divine  service.  There  seems  no  more  right 
to  set  this  aside  than  to  ignore  baptism  or  public 
prayer. 


WHY  DO  NOT   THE   DISCIPLES   FAST? 


O  study  the  entire  subject  of  fasting 
docs  not  raise  one's  respect  for  the  re- 
ligionists of  the  world.  It  supplies 
however,  curious  illustration  of  the  unity  of  the 
race,  Jewish,  Christian  and  heathen,  and  of  the 
strong  tendency  of  superstition  to  blend  itself 
with  religion. 

The  early  prevalent  Oriental  idea  of  the  bad- 
ness of  matter,  as  distinguished  from  spirit,  natu- 
rally favored  fasting.  A  man  can  go  without 
his  dinner,  and  at  the  same  time  feed  his  revenge, 
pride,  avarice,  or  ambition,  with  the  pleasant 
thought  that  he  is  dealing  a  blow  at  essential 
evil.  The  true  idea  that  the  body  is  to  be  sub- 
jected to  the  spirit  and  kept  under,  became 
perverted  and  distorted  into  every  form  of 
grotesque    self-mortification,    and    the     general 


2o2      WHY  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST? 

principle  that  was  meant  to  rule  the  whole  life, 
acquired  an  easier,  limited  application  to  brief 
definite  periods.  As  this  subjection  of  the  body- 
lost  in  real,  it  rose  in  factitious,  value,  and  became 
a  sacrifice  to  Deity,  a  means  of  conciliating,  and 
satisfying  Him,  either  in  view  of  correction  to 
be  deprecated,  or  favors  to  be  gained.  Accord- 
ingly the  Parsees,  the  Chinese,  the  Hindoos,  the 
Scythians  and  all  the  older  Asiatic  races  prac- 
ticed fasting  with  an  ostentation  and  severity  to 
which  western  nations  are  strangers.  A  Hindoo 
can  procure  the  purging  of  all  his  sins  by  an  un- 
broken fast  of  twelve  days  ;  and  th€  conditions 
of  Indian  life  render  a  feat  sufficiently  practica- 
ble, which  would  put  an  end  to  the  earthly  trans- 
gressions of  most  people,  by  ending  then"  lives. 

More  rational  views  obtained  in  Greece  and 
Rome.  To  be  prepared  to  share  in  the  myste- 
ries, or  consult  the  oracle  a  day's  fasting  was 
held  to  be  a  proper  preliminary.  Here  however, 
as  with  the  Hebrews  and  Ninevites,  the  fasts  were 
not  so  much  regularly  recurring  periods,  as  oc- 
casional interruptions  of  the  flow  of  common 
life,  called  for  and  justified  by  special  emergen- 
cies.    Such  were  times  of  national  calamity,  or 


WHY  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST?     283 

« 
public  peril.     Then  men  felt  that  they  were  little, 

and  the  Deity  great ;  that  just  displeasure  visit- 
ed, or  threatened  them ;  that  it  was  seemly  to 
put  off  gay  attire,  and  lay  aside  pleasant  dain- 
ties ;  and  to  express  as  they  best  could,  their 
sense  of  dependence  and  demerit ;  in  the  hope 
that  submission  might  lighten  or  avert  the 
stroke. 

In  Scriptural  fasting  then  there  is  a  natural 
fitness;  its  injunction  by  God  is  not  purely  ar- 
bitrary ;  and  that  natural  fitness  accounts  for 
the  fact  that  abstinence  obtains  among  men 
prior  to,  and  independent  of,  revelation.  As  in 
the  weekly  rest  of  the  Sabbath,  and  in  the  sym- 
bolism of  the  Sacraments,  the  Father  of  lights 
has  added  sanction  and  significance  to  that 
which — as  Creator,  seeing  all  and  harmonizing 
all  He  made — He  had  already  settled  in  the 
nature  of  things,  as  He  made  the  rainbow,  the 
natural  product  of  sun  and  shower,  the  pledge 
of  His  promise,  and  the  sign  of  His  Covenant  in 
the  heavens. 

One  feels  no  surprise  then  in  turning  from 
Buddhists  and  Brahma-worshippers  to  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  to  find  that  while  fasting 


284     ^^^y  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST? 

has  a  place  there,  it  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
clumsy  and  constrained  observances  of  heathen- 
ism. There  was  but  one  day  in  the  year  set  apart 
by  divine  authority  as  a  fast  for  the  Hebrews. 
The  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month,  the  day  of 
the  atonement  was  ordained  for  the  "  afflicting 
of  the  soul ;"  the  very  phrase  employed  pointing 
to  the  true  idea  in  all  such  abstinence.  If  after- 
wards the  Jews  added  five  other  days,  it  was 
their  own  doing,  not  the  Lord's,  and  nothing 
can  be  argued  from  it.  Nor  are  we  forbidden 
to  smile  at  the  nicety  of  ritualistic  detail  with 
which  it  was  settled  by  the  Hebrew  authorities 
that  these  fasts  lasted  from  the  break  of  day  till 
the  appearance  of  three  stars  in  the  evening. 
Considering  that  the  Hebrews  understood  by 
fasting  not  a  nice  selection  from  the  ordinary 
bill  of  fare,  but  entire  abstinence,  we  can  read- 
ily conceive  the  evening  star  to  have  had  spe- 
cial beauty  to  a  Hebrew  eye  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  day  when  Ishmael  killed  Gedaliah.  All 
unauthorized  as  were  these  five  Jev/ish  fasts,  we 
have  a  certain  respect  for  them.  They  were 
real,  earnest  fasts.  They  did  not  offer  any  em- 
barrassinc:  and  entanfjlinci:  choices  between  fish 


?VIIV  no  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST?    285 

and  flesh,  between  the  flesh  of  quadrupeds  and 
lacticiiica,  on  which  Christian  Councils  have 
been  keenly  discriminating.  They  did  not  re- 
quire Jewish  Rabbis  to  write  Pastorals  that 
looked  like  an  extract  from  a  cookery-book. 
They  gave  no  place  for  a  little  pious  fraud  such 
as  that  practised  by  a  disciple  "  of  the  letter  " 
who  dined  on  the  "  breasts "  of  two  ducks  on 
fish-day,  but  excused  himself  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  only  eaten  tJie  aquatic  part  of  tJicin. 
If  we  are  to  have  fasts  let  us  stand  up  for  the 
Jewish  style  of  them.     Let  us  be  thorough. 

When — there  being  but  one  authorized  fast 
day  among  the  Jews — Moses,  Elias,  and  our 
Lord  fasted  for  forty  days,  they  did  something 
entirely  outside  the  Jewish  ritual — something 
special  to  them,  appropriate  to  their  life-work, 
and  only  to  it — miraculous,  and  above  and  be 
yond  the  imitation  of  Christians,  as  much  as 
walking  on  the  sea,  or  calling  down  fire  from 
heaven.  The  washing  of  the  pilgrims'  feet  by 
the  Pope  in  St.  Peter's  is  not  a  very  life-like  or 
natural  performance.  It  would  be  still  more 
melo-dramatic  and  unreal,  if  by  an  ingenious 
mechanical    contrivance   the    "  successor  of  the 


286     l^HV  -DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST? 

apostles''  should  affect  to  walk  on  the  water  in 
imitation  of  Peter.  But  the  principle  would  be' 
just  the  same  if  men  justified  a  periodical  Quad- 
ragesima by  the  non-imitable  example  of  Elias 
or  Christ. 

The  Christian  "  lent"  does  not  however  dis- 
tinctly base  itself  upon  these  high  exhibitions  of 
mastery  of  divine  spirit  over  the  human  body. 
The  Jews  had  Mondays  or  Thursdays  as  fasting- 
days.  Our  Lord  simply  let  them  alone  as  to  the 
act,  though  severe  enough  on  the  motives  and 
accompaniments,  and  he  refused  to  own  the  cus- 
tom as  a  "commandment"  or  to  blame  those 
who  disregarded  it.  By  the  end  of  the  second 
century  many  Jewish  and  heathen  people  had 
come,  with  their  usages,  into  the  Church.  They 
kept  their  fasts  but  altered  the  days.  Wednes- 
days and  Fridays  in  reference  to  our  Lord's 
seizure  and  death  were  made  days  of  fasting. 
Forty  hours  represented  the  doleful  period  of  the 
entombment.  With  the  progress  of  Asceticism 
in  the  Church  they  became  forty  days  ;  and  in  the 
Council  of  Orleans  in  541,  meat  was  interdicted 
to  Christians  except  on  Sundays  during  the  en- 
tire  period.     When   the  Council  of  Toledo  pro- 


IVIIV  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST? 


287 


nounced  a  lent-breaker  unworthy  to  share  in 
the  resurrection,  it  became  necessary  to  define 
terms,  and  understand  the  exact  law.  And  then 
came  the  Casuists  and  set  up  the  barriers, 
which  soon  became  traps  to  catch  consciences. 
They  had  the  Jejunium  (fast) 

1.  Generale, 

2.  Votivum, 

3.  Consuetudinarium, 

4.  Penitentiale, 

5.  Voluntare. 

Each  of  these  might  be  kept  in  one  or  other  of 
four  ways — 

1.  Jejunium  naturale, 

2.  Abstinentia, 

3.  Jejunium  cum  abstinentia, 

4.  Jejunium  sine  abstinentia, 
whoever  has  no  useful  employment,  and  desires 
to  know  more   of  these  with  the   penalties  of 
breach,  and  "  the  reasons  annexed,"  is  referred 
to  Bingham,  Muratori,  Walch  and  Romberg. 

The    regimen  of  the  Latin  church,  though 

we  have  not  given  it  in  full,  is  mild,  compared 

with  that  of  the  Greek,  which  has  a  prescription 

for   at    least    eight  months  of  the  twelve :   and 

.  19 


288      IVJIV  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST? 

in  which  violations  of  the  fasting-law  are  most 
serious  matters.  The  Greek  Lent  is  seven 
weeks  all  but  a  day,  and  Christmas,  instead  of  be- 
ing a  time  of  feasting,  is  solemnized  with  a  fast 
of  thirty-nine  days.  There  are  briefer  periods  in 
honor  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  apostles. 
Whether  good  Greeks  ever  suffer  from  dyspepsia 
or  not  should  be  a  question  of  some  interest  to 
those  who  charge  excessive  eating  as  the  cause 
of  half  our  troubles.  It  is  melancholy  to  think 
how  much  religiousness  there  may  be  with  little 
religion  if  religion  implies  intelligent  regard  to 
God ;  for  a  more  ignorant  population  than  that 
which  uses  the  forms  of  the  Greek  Church,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  under  the  Christian 
name.  It  is  said  the  priests  are  also  very  igno- 
rant. It  does  not  require  an  educated  and 
thoughtful  ministry  to  regulate  the  diet  of  a 
people,  under  spiritual  pains  and  penalties. 

It  has  been  sometimes  jocularly  said  that  the 
Protestants  kept  all  the  feasts  and  left  all  the 
fasts  to  Rome.  The  statement  is  imperfect. 
One  half  of  Reformed  Protestantism  has  kept  the 
fasting  where  the  New  Testament  leaves  it,  and 
has  left  the  feasts  out  altogether.     The   Church 


IVI/V  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST?     289 

of  Scotland  holds  in  theory  that  special  cir- 
cumstances may  make  it  proper  for  an  individ- 
ual, without  boast  or  publicity,  to  fast,  and  for 
a  christian  community  to  appoint  a  day  of  fast- 
ing and  prayer.  Public  religious  exercises  are 
usually  held  on  these  occasions,  but  the  extent 
to  which  food  is  to  be  used  is  left  to  individual 
conscience.  At  such  times,  as  on  the  "  fast''  be- 
fore the  Communion,  serious  people  participate 
in  religious  engagements ;  and  the  non-religious 
amuse  themselves.  If  this  be  urged  as  a  charge 
against  Protestantism,  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
the  "  fast-day''  does  for  Scotland  exactly  what 
every  Sunday  and  holiday  does  for  Roman  Cath 
olics  throughout  the  world. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  as  far  as  public 
action  is  concerned,  the  Church  of  England  has 
kept  off  indefensible  ground  on  fasting.  She 
counts  it  a  useful  preparation  for  the  means  of 
grace.  The  Church  of  Rome  makes  it  an  impe- 
rative means  of  grace.  The  English  Church  has 
never  gone  into  the  dining-room  or  kitchen  to 
make  sumptuary  laws  for  spiritual  ends,  and  the 
pastorals  proceed  on  the  principle  that  it  is  not 
what   goeth    into   a  man's  mouth  that  defileth 


290     JVHV  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST? 

him.  She  would  find  it  hard  probably  to  define 
on  Protestant  principles  the  ground  on  which  she 
has  named  and  provided  for  the  forty  days  of 
Lent,  the  Ember  days,  the  Rogation  days,  and 
the  Fridays  of  the  year :  but  she  has  issued  no 
imperative  command  to  fast.  Acute  people  find 
out  this  weakness,  and  hence  the  "Anglicans,''  or 
"  Catholics"  as  they  love  to  be  called,  who  "fast 
twice  in  the  week,"  plead  that  either  she  should 
have  said  nothing  or  have  spoken  as  Rome  does, 
either  have  said  more  or  held  her  peace.  The 
bulk  of  the  people  however  practically  disregard 
the  church's  suggestion,  and  if  they  otherwise 
serve  God  consistently,  it  is  little  to  be  deplored 
that  it  happens  to  them  as  of  old — "Why  do 
the  disciples  of  John  fast  often,  and  make  pray- 
ers, and  likewise  the  disciples  of  the  Pharisees, 
but  thine  eat  and  drink,"  (Luke  5  :  33.)  Such 
questioners  hardly  understood  the  tender  pathos 
of  the  Lord's  reply — not  a  prescription,  but  a  pre- 
diction. "  Fasting  is  depression,  why  should 
they  be  depressed  now?  Alas!  the  time  will 
come  to  them  when  they  will  be  depressed 
enough  !  I  shall  be  torn  from  them  and  they  shall 
have  many  a  peril,  and  sufficient  affliction  of 


IVJIY  DO  NOT  THE  DISCIPLES  FAST?    29 1 

soul."  And  so  now,  when  God  lays  his  hand  on 
them,  or  they  feel  the  need  of  conscious  mas- 
tery over  the  body  and  that  they  can  get  it  by 
fasting,  let  the  disciples  fast ;  and  only  then. 
When  the  minister  wrote  on  the  side  of  his  ser- 
mon-page, "  weep  here,"  irrespective  of  the  feel- 
ings of  preacher  or  hearer  at  the  moment  of 
delivery,  he  was  a  long  way  below  the  highest 
type  of  pulpit  oratory.  And  when  the  Church 
rules  that  in  all  time  to  come,  at  certain  dates 
in  the  Almanac,  there  shall  be  fasting,  she  runs 
the  risk  of  making  artificial  consciences,  and  pro- 
ducing practical  disregard  and  reactionary 
saturnalia.  The  Mohammedans,  copying  older 
religious  forms,  have  their  Lent  also ;  and  one 
thing  in  it  deserves  commendation  as  far  as  it 
goes.  During  the  entire  month  Ramadan,  eat- 
ing, drinking,  and  smoking  are  strictly  forbidden 
from  daybreak  till  sunset.  It  would  have  been 
an  improvement  if  the  ban  upon  smoking  had 
been  carried  through  the  night,  and  like  that 
upon  wine,  made  perpetual. 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 


HE  attempt  to  learn,  by  special  or 
supernatural  means,  what  is  not  un- 
folded to  ordinary  observation,  or 
reached  by  calculation,  is  neither  rare 
nor  novel  in  human  history.  Every  divine  gift 
to  man  has  its  imitation  in  baser  material,  and 
every  form  of  revelation  has  had  its  copy  ;  lust 
of  knowledge  or  lust  of  power  in  fallen  creatures 
making  the  demand  and  suggesting  the  supply. 
As  early  as  Gen.  xli.  8,  we  find  a  distinct 
order  of  men  in  the  Egyptian  Court,  called  by 
various  names,  "  magicians,"  "  wise  men,"  etc., 
the  indefiniteness  of  the  popular  idea  regarding 
their  peculiarities  rendering  the  language  indef- 
inite, precisely  as  among  ourselves. 

The  general  public  cannot  discriminate  be- 
tween  electro-biology,    clairvoyance,   spirit-rap- 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 


293 


ping,  and  table-turning,  though  no  doubt  the 
professors  in  this  general  line  have  nice  and  in- 
telligible distinctions  among  their  respective 
methods  and  departments. 

In  Exod,  7:  II  we  find  "wise  men "  and 
"sorcerers"  called  to  the  royal  council,  and  we 
have  conclusive  evidence  of  the  zeal,  earnest- 
ness, and  apparent,  though  temporary  success, 
with  which  these  persons  sought  to  serve  Pha- 
raoh. We  think  the  conclusion  probably  certain 
that  these  men  did  not  accomplish  anything  out- 
side laws  of  nature  known  to  them,  and  that 
when  they  were  reduced  to  humiliating  confes- 
sion of  impotence  they  said  quite  candidly : 
"This  is  the  finger  of  God,"  as  distinguished 
from  our  arts. 

The  tribes  among  whom  lay  Jewish  intercourse 
must  have  been  much  addicted  to  such  devices, 
if  we  may  judge  from  the  earnestness  and  fre- 
quency with  which  the  Lord  warned — as  in  Lev. 
XX. :  6 — against  the  wizards  and  familiar  spirits. 
At  this  point  we  get  two  branches  of  the  line, 
one  in  the  direction  of  communicating  with  the 
dead,  the  other  of  impressing  the  living  by  the 
feats  of  ventriloquism.     Probably  both  were  fre- 


294        ^^  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 

quently  combined,  the  unwonted  sounds  verify- 
ing to  the  client  the  supposed  voices  of  the 
dead.  That  women  often  cultivated  these  arts, 
and  with  success,  appears  from  the  prevalency 
of  feminine  words  which,  like  "  witch  ''  among 
us,  hold  an  important  place  in  the  popular  lan- 
guage. 

By  the  time  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  is 
reached  we  have  "  divination,''  "  observing  of 
times,"  "enchanters,"  "witches,"  "charmers," 
"  consulters  with  familiar  spirits,''  "  wizards," 
"  necromancers."  These  are  all  described  by 
their  appropriate  words,  the  etymology  of  which 
sometimes  approximately  describes  the  method 
of  each.  It  is  not  needful  for  our  present  pur 
pose  to  follow  these  minutely. 

Later  in  human  history  we  begin  to  notice 
the  similarity  between  the  Bible  forms  of  su- 
perstitious inquiry  and  those  encountered  in  the 
classics.  Micah  speaks  of  the  "  observer  of 
times,"  and  Isaiah  of  "  soothsayers "  and 
"  monthly  prognosticators ;  "  to  whom  comets, 
lightnings,  clouds,  and  meteors  were  the  means 
of  suggestion  and  enlightenment.  Then  came 
in  long  and  motley  array  the  enchanters  vindi- 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE?        295 

eating  their  claim  by  power  over  serpents; 
"  diviners,"  with  their  cups  and  rods  and  arrows  ; 
augurs  peering  into  the  entrails  of  slain  beasts, 
as  in  Ezekiel  21  :  21,  "looking  in  the  liver,"  and 
the  endless  variety  of  oracle-mongers  from  the 
richly  endowed  shrine  with  a  "national  repute,  to 
the  hag,  that  from  the  recesses  of  a  cave  domi- 
neered over  the  fears  and  superstitions  of  a 
hamlet. 

Two  remarks  may  be  made  at  this  stage. 
I.  It  would  be  unfair  to  imagine  that  all  the 
operators  of  this  machinery  were  conscious  im- 
postors. Men,  by  long  telling  a  lie,  come  to 
believe  it.  Education  moulds  the  mind  as  ample 
observation  proves,  to  accept  things  most  un- 
likely and  incredible  to  others  ;  and  there  is  a 
blinding  and  hardening  judicial  process  to  which 
men  are  given  up  when  evidence  produces  as  lit- 
tle effect  on  their  intellect  as  rays  of  light  on 
the  sightless  eyeballs.  There  were,  no  doubt, 
then  as  now,  sincere  and  honest  exponents  of 
these  plans,  who  were  in  part  dupes,  and,  so  far, 
unconscious  impostors.     It  is  so  still. 

2.  In  the  course  of  life-long  application  to 
one  set  of  facts  and  studies,  and  this  often  car- 


296 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 


ried  on  in  one  place,  or  by  one  undying  corpora- 
tion from  age  to  age,  it  is  exceedingly  likely  that 
acquaintance  was  made  with  occult  laws  of  hu- 
man being,  the  knowledge  of  which  was  turned 
to  account,  and  which  availed  for  impressing, 
overawing,  and  swaying  the  minds  of  men. 
The  possessors  of  this  exceptional  knowledge 
had  secrets — not  supernatural  secrets,  indeed, 
but  such  as  made  them  miracle-workers  to  the 
mass  of  men,  because  the  mass  of  men  were 
ignorant. 

This  appears  to  be  the  exact  state  of  the 
case  in  modern  spiritualism.  Any  one  who  has 
seen  an  exhibition  of  electro-biology  must  have 
been  convinced  that  there  are  persons  of  such 
temperament  that  their  minds  can  be  reduced  to 
abnormal  states,  can  be  turned  into  the  current 
of  other  minds,  so  as  to  feel  as  they  are  directed, 
and  to  will  and  command  their  muscles  as  they 
are  instructed.  From  this  it  seems  an  easy  and 
not  an  unlikely  step  to  the  controlling  mind 
gaining  a  perception  of  the  state  and  feeling  of 
the  mind  controlled,  so  as  to  know  what  it 
knows,  and  for  the  time  comprehend  and  sympa- 
thize with  its  feelings. 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE?        29/ 

We  say,  "  to  know  what  it  knows."  That  is 
the  inexorable  limit.  There  is  no  case  of  the 
revealing  mind  rising  above  the  attainments  of 
the  mind  with  which  it  is  in  sympathy.  The 
inquirer  at  the  oracle  gets  nothing  but  what  he 
brings.  If  he  asks  as  to  what  is  in  his  own; 
mind  the  medium  has  entrance  so  far  to  his  own 
mind,  and  can  read  off  what  is  seen  there.  If  he 
inquire  of  what  is  unknown  to  either  one  or  the 
other,  the  oracular  current  does  not  rise  above 
the  level  of  the  supply,  and  the  response  is  only 
a  guess  more  or  less  accurate. 

This  is  the  result  of  all  observation  ;  it  is 
also  the  verdict  of  scientific  inquiry.  We  do 
not  now  touch  another  and  very  interesting  case 
of  occult  or  partially  known  law — in  which  hu- 
man will  seems  to  have  power  that  is  different 
from  conscious  mechanical  power — over  dead 
matter,  except  to  say  that  man  may  have  been 
— who  can  tell?  in  an  unfallen  state  an  image 
of  the  Creator  in  His  control  over  matter,  and 
restored  and  glorified,  may  have  it  given  back 
again,  and  in  this  be  "  equal  to  the  angels." 

Now  when  we  apply  the  principles  above 
stated   to   the  one  well-defined   case   of  necro- 


298        ^-S"  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 

mancy,  or  spiritualism  described  in  the  Bible, 
there  is  a  solution  of  questions  not  otherwise 
satisfactorily  answered.  We  refer  of  course  to 
Saul's  interview  with  the  witch  of  Endor.  That 
Samuel  should  have  come  in  the  circumstances 
to  meet  Saul  and  announce  the  tragedies  of  the 
melancholy  morrow,  was  a  thing  so  antecedent- 
ly improbable  that  it  could  only  be  explained  by 
the  theory  that  God  so  judged,  and  aggravated 
the  doom  of  Saul.  There  still  seemed  to  be 
some  need  for  explanation  of  Samuel's  language 
of  complaint  as  to  being  "  disquieted,"  and 
"brought  up" — and  of  the  announcement  that 
Saul  and  his  sons  should  be  "  with  him." 

But  on  the  theory  which  applies  spiritualism 
to  the  case  as  it  is  now  in  use  among  us  (and 
which  Dr.  Baldwin  of  Troy  has  carefully  elabora- 
ted in  his  "  Witch  of  Endor  and  Modern  Spirit- 
ism") there  are  enough  points  of  coincidence  to 
make  the  explanation  worth  consideration.  The 
woman  has  a  reputation  for  necromancy.  She 
is  an  accomplished  medium,  possessing  the 
power  of  biologising  the  related  natures.  Her 
faculties — like  those  of  the  gypsy,  the  sharper, 
the  fortune-teller,  have  been   quickened  by  the 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE?        299 

practice  of  long  and  perilous  years.     Saul  is  agi 
tated,  nervous,  faint,  hungry,  and   prepared   to 
catch  at  anything — just  in  that  mood  when 

"  the  very  stones  prate  of  one's  whereabout. 
And  take  the  present  horror  from  the  time. 
Which  now  suits  with  it." 

The  tall  figure  of  the  stately  king,  and  the 
general  look  of  Samuel  might  well  enough  be 
known  to  the  witch,  and  if  not,  her  practised 
acuteness  soon  identified  Saul  and  he  introduced 
Samuel  to  her  attention.  And  now,  magnetized 
and  full  of  unutterable  tremor,  his  unbalanced 
mind  picturing  the  "  doom  he  dreads  yet  dwells 
upon,"  the  witch  proceeds  to  read  off  from  that 
opened  page  what  she  finds  there.  The  last 
time  Saul  saw  Samuel  he  had  on  a  mantle. 
Saul  remembers  it,  for  in  the  frantic  effort  to  de- 
tain the  prophet,  he  laid  hold  on  the  skirt  of  it 
and  it  rent  (i  Saml.  xv :  27.)  It  is  an  old  man  in 
a  mantle  the  witch  perceives.  The  best  way  in 
which  to  exhibit  the  value  of  the  communication 
made  by  the  witch  is  to  put  in  parallel  columns 
the  very  words  of  the  living  Samuel  which  must 
have  burnt  their  way  into  Saul's  memory,  and 
the  words  uttered  in  the  cave. 


300 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 


After  Saul's  rash  sacrifice, 
(I  Sam.  13:  13):  "And  Sam- 
uel said  to  Saul,  Thou  hast 
done  foolishly;  thou  hast  not 
kept  the  commandment  of 
the  Lord  thy  God,  which  he 
commanded  thee :  for  now 
would  the  Lord  have  estab- 
lished thy  kingdom  upon  Israel 
for  ever." 

After  the  episode  of  the 
Amalekites  (i  Sam.  xv. :  16) : 
"  Then  Samuel  said  unto  Saul, 
Stay  and  I  will  tell  thee  what 
the  Lord  hath  said  to  me  this 
night.  And  he  said  unto  him. 
Say  on. 

"  And  Samuel  said.  Hath 
the  Lord  as  great  delight  in 
burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices,  as 
in  obeying  the  voice  of  the 
Lord?  Behold,  to  obey  is  bet- 
ter than  sacrifice,  and  to  hear- 
ken than  the  fat  of  rams. 

"  For  rebellion  is  as  the  sin 
of  witchcraft,  and  stubbornness 
is  as  iniquity  and  idolatry.  Be- 
cause thou  hast  rejected  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  he  hath  also 
rejected  thee  from  being  king. 

"And  Samuel  said  unto  Saul, 
I  will  not  return  with  thee :  for 
thou  hast  rejected  the  word  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  hath 
rejected  thee  from  being  king 
over  Israel. 


The  woman,  speaking  for 
Samuel,  says  (l  Sam.  28  :  16, 
17,  18,  19) :  "  Wherefore  then 
dost  thou  ask  of  me,  seeing 
the  Lord  is  departed  from  thee, 
and  is  become  thine  enemy  ? 

"  And  the  Lord  hath  done 
to  him,  as  he  spake  by  me  : 
for  the  Lord  hath  rent  the 
kingdom  out  of  thine  hand, 
and  given  it  to  thy  neighbor, 
even  to  David. 

"  Because  thou  obeyedst  not 
the  voice  of  the  Lord,  nor  ex- 
ecutedst  his  fierce  wrath  upon 
Amalek,  therefore  hath  the 
Lord  done  this  thing  unto 
thee  this  day. 

"  Moreover,  the  Lord  will 
also  deliver  Israel  with  thee 
into  the  hand  of  the  Philis- 
tines :  and  to-morrow  shalt 
thou  and  thy  sons  be  with  me  : 
the  Lord  also  shall  deliver  the 
host  of  Israel  into  the  hand 
of  the  Philistines." 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE?         30I 

"And  Samuel  said  unto  him. 
The  Lord  hath  rent  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  from  thee  this 
day,  and  hath  given  it  to  a 
neighbor  of  thine,  that  is  better 
than  thou. 

"  And  also  the  strength  of 
Israel  will  not  lie  nor  repent ; 
for  he  is  not  a  man  that  he 
should  repent." 

Add  to  this  Saul's  own  state- 
ment of  his  condition  (l  Sam. 
28  :  15) :  "  And  Samuel  said  to 
Saul,  Why  hast  thou  disquieted 
me,  to  bring  me  up  ?  And  Saul 
answered,  I  am  sore  distressed  ; 
for  the  Philistines  make  war 
against  me,  and  God  is  depart- 
ed from  me,  and  answereth 
me  no  more,  neither  by  pro- 
phets nor  by  dreams  :  therefore 
I  have  called  thee  that  thou 
mayest  make  known  unto  me 
what  I  shall  do." 

That  Samuel  is  described  as  the  speaker  is 
in  accordance  with  the  usual  method  in  such 
cases.  Apollo  gave  the  oracles  at  Delphi, 
though  priests  spoke  ;  and  in  any  number  of  the 
"  Banner  of  Light,"  the  organ  of  spiritualism  in 
this  country,  the  dead — mighty  or  not,  wise  or 
otherwise — are  credited  with  the  declarations, 
though   the  trance-speakers  and   the    mediums 


302        IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 

make  the  actual  communication.  There  is  ab- 
solutely nothing  told  Saul  that  he  did  not  either 
know  or  expect,  for  defeat  stared  him  in  the 
face,  and  the  only  thing  not  uttered  by  the  liv- 
ing Samuel,  and  now  put  into  his  lips — namely, 
that  Saul  and  his  sons  should  be  slain — was 
already  in  the  fallen  monarch's  mind  ;  for  how 
could  that  spirit  brook  "  to  live  and  be  the  show 
and  gaze  of  the  time?"  In  fine,  the  woman 
only  put  into  words  what  in  the  clairvoyant  state 
she  saw  in  the  brain  with  which  she  came  into 
what  Richardson  calls  "  unconscious  cerebra 
tion,''  or  what  others  call  ''  abnormal  psychic 
relations." 

It  only  remains  to  be  added  that  wliile  real 
Satanic  influence  was  believed  in,  and  witches 
were  supposed  to  be  in  connection  with  evil 
supernatural  powers,  Samuel's  appearance  was 
supposed  to  have  been  imaginary,  but  effected 
through  supernatural  agency.  Later  commenta- 
tors, remembering  that  tJiat  form  of  witch-theory 
is  exploded,  differ  with  Calvin,  Luther,  and  the 
Fathers,  and  are  compelled  to  fall  back  on  the 
theory  of  a  permitted  appearance  of  the  real 
Samuel.     It  may  appear  that  the  whole  episode 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE?        303 

was  within  the  Hmits  of  natural  law,  and  that  at 
the  same  time  the  process  was  one  of  imposi- 
tion and  deception  on  the  part  of  the  sorceress, 
and  an  interesting  illustration  of  a  point  of  con- 
tact between  the  heathenism  of  Canaan,  as  de- 
scribed in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  heathenism  of 
Greeks  and  Trojans,  as  described  in  Homer. 

Many  persons  having  seen  undeniable  facts 
of  which  they  could  give  no  explanation,  con- 
clude that  the  deniers  of  spiritualism  are  igno- 
rant of  these  facts,  and  that  their  denial  would 
be  less  strenuous  had  they  opportunity  to  wit- 
ness them.  For  the  sake  of  such  readers,  we 
offer  a  brief  sketch  of  what  may  be  called  the 
scientific  history  of  what  now  assumes  to  itself 
the  honors  of  a  religion.* 

■''Tlie  substance  of  the  following  pages  appeared  over  the 
author's  name  in  the  New'  York  Ledger,  and  the  writer  has  rea- 
son to  know,  with  the  effect  of  satisfying  some  who  were  per- 
plexed and  in  danger  of  losing  their  hold  of  revealed  truth.  The 
result  of  the  publication  was  a  correspondence  of  some  interest, 
in  which  the  strongest  arguments  and  evidences  available  were 
laid  before  the  author.  The  effect  was  twofold  :  i.  To  confirm 
the  theory  of  the  text,  and  to  deepen  the  conviction  that  Spirit- 
ualism is  a  comet  with  a  small  body  of  natural  fact  and  an  enoi- 
mous  tail  of  guessing,  of  sensation,  of  superstitious  and  ignorant 
fear,  and  of  conscious  and  interested  imposture.  2.  That  it  is, 
as  far  as  it   is  intelligent,  animated  by  a  malignant  dislike  of 


304 


75  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE  ? 


The  subject  gained  some  scientific  interest  in 
the  hands  of  Frederick  A.  Mesmer,  a  German, 
born  in  Baden  in  1734,  and  educated  as  a  physi- 
cian. He  published  in  1766  a  work  called  De 
Planetariim  influxu,  to  show  that  a  fine  subtle 
influence  pervades  the  universe,  affected  like  air 
and  water  by  the  heavenly  bodies,  in  turn  affect- 
ing the  nervous  system  of  animals,  and  influenc- 
ing human  disorders.  Then,  he  concluded,  if 
artificial  means  of  exercising  this  influence  could 
be  obtained,  cures  might  be  effected  ;  and  he 
tried  magnets. 

But  a  rival  in  Vienna,  with  the  ominous 
name  of  Hell,  claimed  the  prior  use  of  this  de- 
vice, and  so  far  made  good  his  case.  In  vain 
Mesmer  tried  to  obtain  the  indorsement  of 
learned  bodies ;  and  his  attempt  to  cure  Made- 
moiselle Paradis,  a  public  singer,  in  1777,  left 
her  as  blind  as  ever. 

Paris  has  always  been  a  good  field  for  the 
ingenious,  and  thither  Mesmer  went ;  practised 
there ;  made  friends ;  published  his  theory,  and 
had  it  refuted.     Handsome,  and  not  timid,  he 

Christianity,  though  occasionally  claiming  to  offer  evidence  in 
favor  of  its  great  facts. 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE  ?        305 

intimated  that  he  was  a  benefactor  of  the  race, 
and  desired  an  estate  as  an  acknowledgment  of 
his  services.  On  condition  that  he  would  sub- 
mit his  process  to  three  persons  appointed  by 
the  government,  a  good  pension  was  offered 
him ;  but  he  declined  it,  and  left  in  high  dud- 
geon for  Spa.  Returning — tempted  by  another 
offer — to  Paris,  he  set  up  a  curative  establish- 
ment, luxuriously  furnished,  in  which  he  operat- 
ed upon  his  patients,  as  they  gathered  round  a 
kind  of  magnetic  battery,  producing  no  doubt 
many  of  the  familiar  phenomena  of  electro-biol- 
ogy, which,  being  then  new  and  strange,  made 
him  a  prodigy.  In  1784  the  French  government 
appointed  a  scientific  committee  of  inquiry  into 
the  Mesmeric  process,  including  many  physi- 
cians, and  men  of  repute,  such  as  our  own  Ben- 
jamin Franklin.  This  committee  pronounced 
it  a  humbug ;  so  did  the  Royal  Society  of  Med- 
icine ;  but  that  did  not  prevent  Mesmer  from 
escaping  to  England  with  about  fifty  thousand 
dollars  subscribed  to  pay  for  his  secret.  There 
he  lived  and  spent  his  money,  under  another 
name,  but  finally  returned  to  Germany,  and  died 

in  obscurity  in  1815. 
20 


3o6        ^S  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 

The  life  of  Mesmer  may  be  regarded  as  the 
immediate  precursor,  in  modern  times,  of  table- 
turning,  biology,  spirit-rapping  and  other  feats, 
underlying  many  of  which  there  is,  likely,  a 
basis  of  true  natural  fact — such  fact,  namely,  as 
scientific  men  recognize  as  animal  magnetism. 
Mesmer's  magnetic  rod  has  given  place  to  passes 
with  the  hand ;  and  these  again  have  been  dis- 
pensed with,  and  the  eyes  have  been  a  sufficient 
means  of  producing  the  desired  bodily  and 
mental  condition.  Perhaps  a  tithe  of  the  hu- 
man race  is  susceptible  of  this  abnormal  state, 
which,  according  to  the  report  on  Mesmer's 
process  signed  by  Franklin,  was  produced  pure- 
ly by  the  imagination  of  the  subjects,  and  not 
by  the  operator,  as  the  committee  made  out 
by  repeated  experiment  on  those  who  were  af 
fected. 

All  that  was  yet  shown,  however,  was  that 
Mesmer  gave  an  erroneous  account  of  the  facts. 
The  facts  were  there ;  as  probably  most  intelli 
gent  persons  have  seen  them  in  biological  ex 
periments.  There  was  no  clear  explanation  ot 
them.  "  Everything  unknown  is  taken  for  the 
magnificent ;  "  and  these  mysterious  facts  offered 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 


307 


a  tempting  facility  for  "  practice."  Perkins  con- 
structed his  patent  metallic  tractors,  and  might 
have  made  a  good  thing  of  them  but  for  Dr. 
Falkoner  of  Bath,  who  made  wooden  "  tractors" 
that  produced  identically  the  same  results. 

But  a  new  generation  is  continually  coming 
up,  ready  to  notice  curious  facts.  A  man  or 
woman  with  a  few  of  these,  claims  the  ear  and 
eye.  On  the  narrow  base  of  fact  a  great  pile  of 
— something  else,  is  raised.  The  pile  is  con- 
demned as  a  whole  ;  but  a  {q\v  persons  undoubt- 
edly see  the  base  of  fact,  spurn  the  unbelievers, 
and  believe  too  much  because  too  much  has 
been  denounced. 

The  following  facts  are  well  known  and  es- 
tablished on  proper  scientific  evidence,  and  no 
one,  in  his  anathemas  of  imposture  and  jug- 
glery, need  waste  his  breath  in  their  denuncia- 
tion. 

I.  The  minds  of  some  persons,  by  their  gaz 
ing  on  a  copper  cent,  a  spot  on  the  wall,  or 
vacancy,  can  be  tired  into  reverie  or  sleep ;  and, 
as  the  facts  of  sleep-walking  show,  some  fall 
into  this  state  without  the  act  of  any  one's  will, 
their  own   or   others'.      The    "  operator "    only 


3o8        ^■S  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 

produces  this  state,  as  a  schoolma'am  produces 
tiredness  in  a  child  whom  she  compels  to  stand 
for  two  hours  on  one  spot. 

2.  In  this  state  a  suggestion  can  be  made  to 
the  person  by  any  one,  by  word,  or  look,  or 
touch,  which  will  be  obeyed.  But  it  must  be  so 
conveyed.  An  operator,  it  is  believed  on  evi- 
dence, may  wisJi  his  "  subject"  to  do  a  thing, 
forever,  and  in  vain,  until  the  suggestion  is 
made,  and  the  vague  and  dreamy  ideas  of  the 
subject — floating  in  vacancy — are  fixed,  and  be- 
gin to  become  forces.  Being  told  to  do  so  the 
subject  will  now  taste  sugar  as  salt,  or  salt  as 
sugan  shiver  in  the  cold,  or  be  oppressed  with 
heat. 

3.  Tables  and  other  movables  have,  undoubt- 
edly, been  moved  by  persons  who  did  not  mean 
to  do  it.  Faraday  showed,  by  an  ingenious 
contrivance,  that  a  dominant  thought  producing 
expectant  attention,  led  persons  unconsciously 
to  use  force.  The  correct  statement  to  make 
concerning  these  table-turners  is,  not  that  they 
were  "a  fraud,"  and  conscious  impostors,  but 
that  they  did  a  real  something,  only  not  knowing 
what  they  did. 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 


309 


4.  Pencils  in  men's  hands  have  stopped  at 
the  revolving  letters  which  made  out  answers 
on  which  their  attention  was  nervously  fixed. 
There  is  no  proof  of  anything  being  revealed 
but  what  has  been  known  to  some  one  in  the 
company.  Nor  when  "  spirits "  have  been  in- 
troduced, does  their  information  ever  rise  above 
that  of  the  entire  company.  There  is  no  "  in- 
spiration of  elevation."  Even  defects  of  gram- 
mar and  spelling  have  adhered  to  very  distin- 
guished spirits,  suspiciously  like  those  of  the 
operators.  There  is  no  evidence  of  any  really 
valuable  discovery  made  to  men  by  such  pro- 
cesses. When  Sir  John  Franklin  and  Dr. 
Livingstone  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
civilized  world,  and  reliable  information  regard- 
ing them  would  have  been  a  welcome  boon  to 
science,  it  did  not  come.  No  new  religious 
truth  has  been  authenticated  to  men.  No  great 
national  event  has  been  announced  with  cer- 
tainty. Any  man  who  had  supernatural  com- 
munications, a  few  years  ago,  as  to  the  issue  of 
the  American  war,  could  have  made  or  saved 
fortunes  for  multitudes.  But  no  one  did  so. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  spirits,  so  called,  have 


3IO 


IS  SPIRITUALISM  IN  THE  BIBLE? 


been  convicted  of  mistakes,  Avhich  would  have 
done  them  no  credit  even  in  the  less  developed 
bodily  state. 

It  remains,  then,  that  we  candidly  acknowl- 
edge certain  very  curious  natural  facts  in  the 
human  system,  capable  of  development,  perhaps 
in  every  tenth  person,  of  the  same  order  as 
dreaming  and  somnambulism  ;  facts  occasionally 
presented  among  the  older  generations,  as  in  the 
heathen  priestesses ;  and  which  are  to  be  studied 
like  other  natural  phenomena,  by  such  scientists 
as  Braid,  Carpenter,  Holland  and  Faraday. 

It  remains  also,  that  we  avoid  the  connect- 
ing of  these  with  the  invisible  world,  or  expect- 
ing through  them  any  supernatural  information, 
or  in  any  shape  or  form  building  a  religion  upon 
them,  or  in  any  way  putting  them  in  the  same 
list  with  the  miracles  of  Scripture — of  which 
they  are  possibly  the  ill-intended  caricature, 
their  evil  use  suggested  by  him  who  has  been 
called  the  ape  of  God — or  expecting  from  them 
moral  and  religious  results  upon  unbelievers. 
"  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  will  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead." 


MAY  THE   MINISTRY   BE  DEMITTED? 

HE  interest  of  this  question  lies  in  the 
fact  that  in  America  there  are  many- 
excellent  men,  who  from  a  variety  of 
causes  not  discreditable  to  them,  though  set 
apart  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  are  engaged 
in  other  pursuits,  and  who  would  be  glad  to 
have  a  way  by  which  without  any  moral  blame 
attaching  to  them,  they  could  retire  into  the 
ranks  of  ordinary  christians,  and  in  some  cases 
assume  duties  from  which  they  are  now  shut 
out  by  the  very  fact  of  their  "  orders." 

The  answer  to  this  question  must  be  prece- 
ded by  some  examination  of  terms,  in  order  to 
accuracy  of  reply.  "  Ministry"  in  the  general 
sense  is  incumbent,  by  God's  law,  on  all  who 
can  minister.  Nobody  can  demit  that.  A  rich 
man   can    never   demit  giving ;  nor  a  teaching 


3 1 2     MA  Y  THE  MINISTR  Y  BE  DEMITTED? 

man  teaching ;  nor  a  ministering  man,  minister- 
ing, while  the  power  remains.  As  to  man, 
such  persons  may  do  as  they  please.  As  to 
God,  they  can  never  lay  down  their  ministry, 
but  with  the  poiver  to  execute  it. 

Ministry  in  the  official  and  special  sense  must 
be  examined  on  grounds  a  little  different  in  form 
yet  not  different  in  substance.  Here  we  get 
among  the  dust  of  scholastic  and  patristic  accu- 
mulations, and  a  little  of  //  must  needs  be  cleared 
away. 

Here  for  example  is  an  old  distinction  be- 
tween "  orders''  and  "  holy  orders."  In  the 
second  century  arose  the  "  lector;  "  in  the  third 
the  doorkeeper  ;  in  the  middle  of  the  third  the 
subdeacon  ;  in  the  fifth  the  acolyte.  The  dea- 
coness— regarding  whom  we  humbly  venture  to 
think  some  half-learned  sentiment  is  now  grow- 
ing up  around  us,  was  another  of  these  subordi- 
nate officials,  of  whom  all  were  "  in  orders  ;  "  but 
the  presbyter  and  deacon  being  mentioned  in 
Scripture  were  in  "  holy  orders." 

Now  where  did  men  get  this  phrase  "  holy 
orders  ? ''  Not  from  the  Scriptures  certainly, 
but  from  "  the  church." 


MAY  THE  MINISTRY  BE  DEMITTED? 


313 


And  what  are  "  holy  orders"  according  to 
their  manufacturers?  We  reply  in  the  words 
of  a  catechism  in  use  in  France  and  slightly 
modified  for  use  and  circulation,  by  Anglo-cath- 
olics. "  Holy  order  is  a  Sacrament  by  which 
bishops,  priests  and  other  ministers  of  the  church 
are  ordained,  and  receive  power  and  grace  to 
perform  their  sacred  duties."  The  grace  can 
only  be  given  by  competent  persons;  comes  in 
the  line  of  succession  ;  and  like  the  virus  of  vac- 
cination in  the  physical  system,  inheres  ever- 
more in  the  ordained.  And  this  opens  up  a 
curious  bit  of  history.  The  number  seven  was 
early  accounted  sacred.  So  seven  sacraments 
gradually  grew  up,  and  seven  orders  of  ministry. 
Some  of  them  we  have  named  already.  Their 
Latin  names  were  "ostiary,"  "  lector,"  "  acolyth," 
"exorcist,"  "  subdeacon,"  "deacon,"  and  "  pres- 
byter." Each  had  its  appropriate  ordination, 
and  each  had  its  appropriate  pecuniary  grant. 
We,  in  reverent  regard  to  the  Scriptures,  have 
discarded  five  Sacraments,  and  five  orders  to- 
gether, and  we  have  modified  the  views  of  men 
regarding  both  the  Sacraments  and  the  orders 


314 


MA  Y  THE  MINISTRY  BE  DEMITTED? 


we  retain.     We  deny  for  example,  that  "  orders" 
have  any  Sacramental  character. 

We  count  the  word  and  the  thing  ahke  eccle- 
siastical. In  the  Jewish  church,  altar,  priest, 
and  sacrifice  were  co-relative  terms  and  concep- 
tions, and  priest  and  laity,  as  distinct,  had  a  real 
meaning  by  divine  appointment.  But  they  have 
given  place  to  a  New  Testament  order  of  things. 
The  conceptions  still  stand  as  they  ever  did  to 
one  another  ;  but  Christ  is  the  priest,  the  altar, 
and  the  sacrifice.  "  He  offered  Himself  without 
spot  to  God."  Into  so  much  of  his  official  char- 
acter as  He  continues  to  execute,  all  Christians 
enter  on  their  belief  and  baptism  in  his  name. 
They  are  kings  and  priests  to  God,  and  the 
teachers  of  men,  in  the  measure  of  their  gifts 
and  graces — ALL  OF  THEM,  without  a  single  ex- 
ception. Some  have  more  gifts  and  graces  than 
others,  and  there  is  divine  authority  for  such  to 
take  on  themselves,  or  accept,  and  for  the 
Church  to  lay  upon  them  special  functions,  and 
by  the  act  of  ordination  to  designate  and  recog- 
nize them.  It  is  not  held  by  Protestants  that 
ordination  confers  grace.  It  is  so  believed  by 
Romanists  and   Romanisers.      They  hold  that 


A/A  Y  THE  MINISTR  Y  BE  DEMITTED  ? 


315 


ordination  communicates  grace  ;  that  when  the 
hands  are  laid  on  with  prayer — to  which  Scrip- 
tural rite  they  added  anointing  with  oil,  bal- 
sam, etc. — the  ordained  pass  out  of  the  ordi- 
nary condition  of  men,  acquire  a  new  character 
in  some  way  inherent  in  him,  and  hence  called 
indefeasible,  or  in  the  jargon  of  the  ecclesiastical 
lawyers,  character  indelibilis.  It  soon  followed 
that,  being  taken  out  of  the  category  of  men,  he 
should  be  made  a  celibate,  wear  a  tonsure  and  a 
habit,  and  have  a  distinction  clearly  drawn  in  his 
favor  between  the  original  mere  man  and  the 
imparted  superaddition  ;  so  that  he  might  be 
conceivably  drunk  as  a  man  without  any  im- 
peachment of  the  sacerdotal  character,  or  he 
might  swear  as  a  prince  of  the  Church  with- 
out prejudice  to  his  reputation  as  a  Bishop. 

All  this  we  consider  a  part  of  the  relapse  of 
Christendom  into  heathenism  with  an  infusion 
of  the  Mosaic  economy.  We  consider  the 
Church  a  divinely-appointed  society,  governed 
by  the  laws  which,  in  the  nature  of  things,  any 
society  requires.  The  society  has  divine  author- 
ity to  appoint  its  officers.  They  are  divinely 
appointed  as  classes  by  divine  express  command. 


3 16      ^^A  Y  THE  MINISTR  Y  BE  DEMIT  TED  ? 

They  are  divinely  appointed  as  individuals  only 
through  the  judgment  of  the  Church.  That 
judgment  is  founded  on  gifts  and  graces,  and 
is  not  infallible.  It  sometimes  occurs,  for  ex- 
ample, that  persons  are  ordained  who  prove 
their  destitution  of  the  gifts  and  graces  that 
they  were  supposed  to  possess — prove  it  so  pal- 
pably that  the  Church  takes  back  her  act  of 
ordination.  It  is  proved  to  her  that  the  ordain- 
ed man  had  not  the  gifts  and  graces  of  which 
his  supposed  possession  formed  a  ground  for 
his  ordination.  She  then  compels  him  to  de- 
mit the  office.  She  does  not  hold  that  he 
retains  some  mysterious  character  indclibilis 
after  his  degradation,  in  virtue  of  which  he 
can  never  be  anything  but  an  ecclesiastic.  This 
is  the  Romish  theory,  and  is  acted  on  in  Romish 
countries.  It  is  to  some  extent  acted  on  in  the 
law  of  England,  though  recent  changes  have 
been  found  necessary. 

But  suppose  he  made  the  diicovery  himself 
that  he  lacked  the  gifts  and  graces  which  he 
supposed  justified  his  ordination,  must  he  con- 
tinue to  regard  himself  as  an  ecclesiastic,  and 
be  denied  the  power  to  demit  his  office,  unless 


MA  Y  THE  MINIS  THY  BE  DEMI  T  TED  ?      317 

by  some  criminal  act  he  oblige  the  church  to 
degrade  him  ?  We  can  hardly  think  so.  If  it 
be  said  his  feeling  has  nothing  to  do  with  it, 
we  reply — It  certainly  had  with  the  assumption 
of  office.  It  would  be  a  strong  thing  to  ordain 
a  man  against  his  own  will  and  feeling  of  right ! 
His  will  is  an  element  in  his  being  ordained, 
and  may  be  regarded  at  any  subsequent  period. 
We  conclude,  therefore,  that  a  minister  recog- 
nized by  the  Church  may  find  out  that  the 
Church  took  him  as  prepared  of  God,  when  in 
point  of  fact  he  was  not  ;  and  on  being  assured 
of  this  he  has  a  right  to  go  back  to  the  ranks, 
unless  otherwise  disqualified. 

Of  course,  so  long  as  a  man's  conscience 
assures  him  of  his  possession  of  the  gifts  and 
graces  for  the  ministry,  he  is  bound  to  continue 
in  it.  But  that  obligation  does  not  spring  out 
of  his  relation  to  the  Church,  but  out  of  his 
relation  to  God,  He  is  bound  to  use  all  his 
talents  as  long  as  God  leaves  them  with  him. 
This  obligation  the  Church  did  not  make,  nor 
has  it  anything  to  do  with  his  ordination.  If 
his  ordination  increases  his  responsibility  and 
obligation,    it    is    because    it   gives   him  a  new 


3l8      ^^y  THE  MINISTRY  BE  DEMITTED? 

talent,  namely,  recognition  and  confidence  on 
the  part  of  those  calling  and  ordaining  him,  and 
not  by  any  means  from  any  quality  in  it  of  it- 
self. 

It  may  be  objected  that  this  destroys  the 
basis  of  ministerial  character  and  position.  We 
venture  to  think  not.  It  rests  it  on  the  posses- 
sion of  recognized  solid  qualities,  and  not  on  a 
human  act,  done,  indeed,  in  accordance  with 
a  general  divine  rule,  but  the  particular  applica- 
tions of  which  are  not  divinely  directed. 

It  may  be  argued  that  if  this  argument  is 
sound,  then  the  ordinary  Christian  may  admin- 
ister the  sacraments.  Some  might  reply  to  this 
supposed  logical  coitp  de  grace — What  harm? 
Even  the  Church  of  Rome  allows  a  midwife  to 
baptize.  But  we  are  not  driven  to  this  extrem- 
ity. We  reply  that  out  of  the  nature  of  a 
society — which  the  Church  is  by  divine  constitu- 
tion— arises  a  distinction  between  the  ministry 
and  the  congregation.  An  insurance  company 
is  a  society  (voluntary,  indeed,  and  therein  dif- 
fering from  the  Church,  but)  for  the  purposes  of 
this  argument,  having  enough  as  a  society  in 
common  with  the  Church  to  warrant  the  paral- 


MAY  THE  MINISTRY  BE  REMITTED? 


319 


lei.  Now  any  one  may  explain  to  his  neighbor 
the  advantages  of  insurance.  But  when  I,  per- 
suaded of  them,  wish  to  take  out  a  policy,  I  go 
to  the  officers  for  their  signature  to  make  my 
papers  good.  Why?  Because  my  counsellor  or 
instructor  is  inherently  less  wise  or  good  than 
the  officers  of  the  company  ?  No;  but  because 
it  is  a  company  or  society,  and  it  has  organs,  by 
common  consent,  to  represent  it,  and  by  whom 
to  act.  So,  in  the  Church,  any  member  is  bound 
to  tell  of  the  benefits  of  membership.  But  so 
soon  as  I  am  persuaded  to  become  a  member, 
the  whole  society  being  in  some  measure  affected 
by  my  action,  has  a  right  to  be  regarded  ;  and  so 
I  must  go  to  the  Church  as  all  the  members,  as 
in  the  Congregational  form,  or  to  the  officers,  as 
in  the  ordinary  Presbyterian  administration. 
The  administration  of  the  sacraments  corre- 
sponds to  the  signature  of  the  president  or  secre- 
tary, and  both  spring  out  of  the  nature  of  the 
societies. 

It  may  be  inquired — How  then  could  you 
take  hold  of  an  ordained  man  who  wished  to 
give  up  his  ministry,  in  order  to  make  money.'* 
We  reply — simply  as  on  any  Christian,  by  tell- 


320     ^-^^  y  THE  MINISTRY  BE  DEMITTED? 

ing  him  that  he  has  no  right  to  cast  away  a  tal- 
ent by  giving  which  to  him  the  Lord  indicated 
His  mind  that  he  should  use  it  ;  that  he  has  no 
more  right  to  do  it  than  a  rich  man  has  to  tie 
up  his  own  hands,  and  give  nothing  to  the 
Lord's  treasury.  But  it  is  by  the  Lord's  deal- 
ing with  him  as  a  Christian,  and  not  specifically 
in  virtue  of  his  ordination,  that  he  is  bound  by 
this  obligation. 

That  the  ministry  may  be  demitted,  and  that 
"  orders"  are  not  indelible  appears  to  be  the 
general  Protestant  belief  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  little  weight  which  men  attach  to  them 
when  the  popular  and  effective  use  of  gifts  has 
ceased.  The  Romish  Church  punishes  an  ill- 
behaved  priest,  in  countries  wholly  Roman  Cath- 
olic by  confinement  in  a  monastery,  a  method  of 
withdrawing  unworthy  men  from  notice  not 
open  to  Protestant  Churches.  Our  mistakes  are 
all  apparent.  The  indelible  theory  logically 
should  oblige  a  church  that  holds  it  to  make  a 
life-provision  for  jts  clergy.  That  family  ties  are 
discouraged  in  the  Romish  system,  and  this 
provision  comparatively  easily  made,  is  an  illus- 
tration of  the  logical  consistency  of  that  system 


MA  y  THE  MINISTRY  BE  DEMITTED? 


321 


• — a  system  so  thoroughly  concatenated  (as  might 
be  expected  when  we  remember  how  long  the 
most  subtle  and  cultivated  minds  of  the  race 
have  been  engaged  on  it)  that  they  who  sneer  at 
it  as  "absurd''  and  ridiculous  indicate  thereby 
their  absolute  incompetence  to  deal  with  itsi 
arguments.  A  real  knowledge  of  the  Romish 
system  and  some  respect  for  its  well-arranged 
defences,  are  necessary  to  him  who  would  in- 
struct its  adherents. 


WHAT   HAVE   THE   "OLD   CATHO- 
LICS"  TO   DO? 

OSSIBLY  less  interest  was  awakened 
in  the  early  years  of  the  Reformation 
struggle  by  the  efforts  of  Luther  and 
his  friends  than  has  greeted  the 
movement  now  known  as  "  Old  Catholic." 
Whether  it  is  to  lead  to  results  corresponding  in 
magnitude  to  those  which  the  Reformation  of 
the  Sixteenth  century  produced,  will  depend 
largely  on  the  position  given  to  the  Bible  by  the 
later  German  Reformers.  In  many  things  the 
circumstances  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  far 
more  favorable  to  a  wide  and  successful  revolt 
against  Rome  than  those  of  the  sixteenth.  The 
present  leaders  have  the  benefit  of  their  prede- 
cessors' experience.  They  have  the  advantage 
of  a  Protestant  literature,  an   arsenal  of  contro- 


WHAT  HAVE   THE  "  OLD  CATHOLICS;'  ETC.  323 

versial  artillery.  They  have  the  spirit  of  the 
times  with  them.  They  are  favored  by  the  de- 
caying prestige  of  the  Papacy,  and  by  the  steady 
upward  and  Protestant  movement  of  the  Ger- 
man mind,  and  of  German  national  life.  On 
the  other  hand  Protestantism  has  not  the  charm 
of  novelty  ;  the  personal  character  of  the  Pope 
and  of  his  advisers  is  free  of  the  scandals  which 
seemed  to  so  many  to  justify  secession  in  Lu- 
ther's time,  and  the  lengths  to  which  revolution 
has  so  often  proceeded  on  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope deter  the  timid,  indeed  the  conservative 
generally,  from  entering  upon  any  movement 
the  end  of  which  cannot  be  clearly  foreseen. 
Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  that  no  leader  has  yet 
appeared  with  Luther's  great  and  fearless  na- 
ture, or  what  made  him  so  strong,  his  grasp  of 
evangelical  truth. 

The  man  of  greatest  weight  in  this  move- 
ment— who  may,  perhaps,  be  called  its  leader — 
Dr.  J.  J.  Ignatius  Von  Dollinger,  is  a  man  of 
great  learning,  of  wide  culture,  of  blameless 
character,  and  whose  personal  worth  and  public 
services  have  secured  for  him  general  esteem 
and  honor.     He  has  written  largely  on  the  his- 


324 


IVHA  T  HA  VE   THE 


tory  of  the  Church,  not  always  with  freedom 
from  a  partisan  spirit,  but  with  indications  of  a 
mind  freeing  itself  gradually  from  traditional 
trammels,  and  daring  to  form  its  own  judgments. 
He  has  not  confined  himself  to  purely  theologi- 
cal labors.  The  religion  of  Shakespeare,  the  Eng- 
lish Tractarians,  and  Dante's  Paradise,  have  en- 
gaged his  attention  and  been  the  subject  of  pub- 
lications more  or  less  known,  while  such  practi- 
cal themes  as  mixed  marriages,  and  the  duty  of 
the  Church  to  those  who  die  in  other  commu- 
nions, have  been  discussed  by  him.  He  has  had 
reputation  as  a  college  professor,  and  as  a  legisla- 
tor, for  he  served  in  the  Bavarian  Chamber  for 
four  years,  and  in  the  National  Parliament  in 
1848,  when  his  voice  was  loud  and  clear  for 
liberty  ;  but  he  embraced  the  earliest  opportu- 
nity to  retire  to  the  more  congenial  duties  of 
his  chair  and  to  purely  literary  labor. 

Taken  as  a  whole  Dr.  Dollinger  is  in  his  line  one 
of  the  most  notable  and  impressive  men  of  this 
century.  But  he  is  now  seventy-four  years  old — 
an  age  at  which  men  do  not  easily  strike  out  into 
new  paths.  He  is,  besides,  afraid  of  the  forces, 
which  he  has  in  some  degree  evoked,  and  would 


"OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO? 


325 


fain  do  that  which  we  think  can  hardly  be  done, 
retain  the  essence  of  "  the  Church,"  as  he  would 
call  the  system  in  which  he  has  lived,  and  cut 
off  the  abuses  which  he  thinks  vitiate  her  influ- 
ence and  impair  her  usefulness.  The  wonder 
perhaps  is  not  that  he  goes  no  farther,  but  that 
he  has  gone  so  far.  He  is  generously  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  Nestor  of  the  movement,  and 
one  only  wishes  for  the  whole  Grecian  council 
with  an  Ajax,  a  Diomede,  an  Achilles  to  do  and 
dare,  and  level  to  the  ground  in  Germany  that 
doomed  Troy,  the  Priam  of  which,  in  his  old 
age,  may  awaken  our  sympathy,  but  cannot 
command  our  respect. 

More  known  popularly  than  Dollinger  is 
Father  Hyacinthe,  whose  eloquence  as  a  preach- 
er, and  whose  breach  with  Rome  by  his  marriage 
have  called  to  him  disproportionate-  attention. 
He  appears  to  be  without  much  logical  power, 
and  mainly  forcible  in  that  rhetorical  aptness 
which  in  combination  with  strong  sympathies 
makes  a  vigorous  exponent,  but  without  the 
power  to  originate.  One  may  have  great  power 
of  utterance,  and  yet  lack  the  first  element  of  a 
great  teacher,  namely,  something  to  say.    Hardly 


326  ^^^'-i  T  HA  VE  THE 

one  declaration  of  Pere  Hyacinthe  is  clear  and 
distinct.  He  is  on  both  sides  of  the  question. 
He  denounces  this  or  that  error  of  Rome,  and 
with  equal  eloquence  and  earnestness  assever- 
ates his  soundness  as  a  Romanist.  He  is  for 
the  platform  and  the  popular  audience,  and  not 
long  for  even  them,  if  nothing  is  done  ;  for  the 
mere  eloquence  of  words  soon  loses  its  zest  if 
there  is  not  the  illustration  and  accompaniment 
of  living  deeds. 

We  have  never  been  of  those  who  hoped 
much  from  the  old  Catholic  movement.  We 
have  too  much  respect  for  Romanism  as  a  sys- 
tem to  suppose  that  such  undecided  and  desult- 
ory assaults  could  seriously  affect  it.  We  anti- 
cipate that  the  politicians  will  use  the  feeling 
the  movement  represents  for  their  own  purposes, 
and  that,  destitute  of  any  strong  hold  on  the  in- 
telligent convictions  of  men,  and  without  a  de- 
cisive policy,  it  will  disappoint  the  expectations 
of  the  sanguine,  and  produce  little  permanent 
result.  No  amount  of  pruning  will  make  Rome 
a  tree  of  the  Lord's  planting. 

The  old  Catholics  propose  to  reform  the 
Church,   and  make  it  pure.     Reform,  we  may 


"OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO? 


327 


surely  say,  implies  the  casting  out  of  what  is 
from  heathenism,  and  the  reduction  of  the 
Church  to  substantial  harmony  with  the  New 
Testament.  Approaching  the  citadel,  and,  of 
course,  first  encountering  the  outworks,  the  Re- 
formers are  met  at  the  church-door  by  the  vessel 
of  holy  water,  and  in  some  places  by  a  sprinkler 
with  a  brush,  to  touch  which  is  proper  on  enter- 
ing. The  origin  of  this  is  obvious  enough  to 
any  reader  of  Virgil — 

"  Idem  ter  socios  pura  circumtulit  unda, 
Spargens  roie  levi,  et  ramo  felicis  olivce, 
Lustravitque  viros,  dixitque  novissima  verba."  * 

This  thrice  passing  around  the  company 
with  pure  water,  sprinkling  with  the  branch  of 
the  fruitful  olive,  so  purifying  the  men,  is  re- 
produced with  slight  variations  in  Christian 
Churches.  This  the  old  Catholics  should  get 
rid  of,  especially  as  the  high  authority  of  Justin 
Martyr,  in  his  first  Apology,  can  be  quoted  in 
proof  of  its  heathen  origin,  and  its  offensive  as- 
pect to  early  Christians.  He  adverts  to  the 
identity  of  washing  and  scriptural  illumination, 
in  Scripture  language,  and  proceeds  (ch.  Ixii., 
*  Aen.  Lib.  VI. 


328  W^A  T  HA  VE   THE 

"And  the  devils,  indeed,  having  heard  this 
washing  pubHshed  by  the  prophet,  instigated 
those  who  enter  their  temples,  and  are  about  to 
approach  them  with  libations  and  burnt  offer- 
ings, also  to  sprinkle  themselves."  It  cannot  be 
wrong  to  stand  with  Justin  Martyr,  and  those 
early  Christians  who  would  starve  rather  than 
use  the  food  which  they  counted  polluted  by  the 
sprinkling  upon  it  in  the  market  of  the  "  holy 
water  "  of  the  heathen. 

It  cannot  be  alleged  that  this  comes  to  the 
Christian  from  the  Jewish  Church,  The  blood 
and  not  the  water  was  the  purifying  element  to 
the  Jew ;  and  the  laver  was  for  the  priesthood, 
and  not  for  general  use  or  any  kind  of  sprink- 
ling. If  it  be  true  that  salt  is  mixed  with  the 
w^ater  in  the  modern  temple,  the  identification 
with  the  heathen  usage  is  the  more  formal  and 
marked.  It  is  a  funeral  that  Virgil  describes. 
Residents  in  Roman  Catholic  countries  know 
how  identical  is  its  employment  in  the  present 
day.  Indeed,  the  modern  sprinkling  has  been 
carried  further  than  the  ancient;  for  horses, 
donkeys,  cows,  and  mules  share  the  benefits ;  it 
was  only  before  the  races  in  the  Circeusian  games 


"  OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO?  329 

that  the  heathen  sprinkled  their  horses,  and  then 
possibly  for  the  very  proper  purpose  of  refresh- 
ing them  before  or  after  their  efforts. 

In  those  descriptions  of  the  "  imposing  ritu- 
al" of  Rome  with  which  our  newspapers  occa- 
sionally indulge  us,  the  censer  and  incense  are 
marked  features.  All  men  remember  the  boys 
who,  in  Continental  Cathedrals,  so  industriously 
swing  the  censer  before  the  priests  and  around 
the  altar. 

The  purely  heathen  character  of  this  usage 
is  certain.  So  distinctive  was  it,  that  for  a 
Christian  to  throw  a  pinch  of  incense  on  the 
altar,  or  into  the  censer,  was  counted  an  act  of 
homage  to  the  heathen  god,  and  a  renunciation 
of  Christianity.  Hence,  in  violent  reaction 
against  it,  Christian  law-givers  confiscated  the 
very  dwellings  in  which  incense  was  found.  It 
was  a  part  of  the  ceremonial  appliances  of  the 
Jews,  but  the  early  Christians  knew  its  ceremo- 
nial and  transient  character,  and  discarded  it. 
Not  so  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  which  it  plays  a 
most  important  part — book,  priest,  altar,  almost 
everything  and  every  person  being  incensed. 
But  she  has  no  monopoly  of  it.     Buddhists  also 


330 


WHA  T  HA  VE   THE 


incense  their  images  with  great  regularity,  and 
no  doubt  attach  to  the  act  special  significance. 
The  puerility  of  boys  burning  pastil,  which 
seems  to  promote  anything  but  reverence,  must 
be  discontinued  in  a  reformed  Church. 

In  San  Francisco  one  is  struck  on  entering 
the  joss-houses  of  the  Chinese,  with  the  lights 
burning  before  the  most  hideous  and  contempti- 
ble of  idols.  How  widespread  is  superstition, 
and  how  truly  one  is  the  race !  So  the  Egyp- 
tians honored  their  deities.  So  one  may  judge 
in  some  places  of  the  amount  of  honor  given  to 
a  saint  by  the  number  of  lights  around  his 
image.  "  They  light  up  candles  to  God,''  says 
one,  "  as  if  he  lived  in  the  dark  ;  but  do  they 
not  deserve  to  rank  as  madmen  who  offer  lamps 
to  the  Author  and  Giver  of  light?''  All  this 
was  foolish  in  heathenism ;  it  is  sinful  in  Chris- 
tianity. The  old  Catholics  will  need  to  extin- 
guish these  useless  lights.  They  can  do  this 
with  the  better  grace  since  the  Apocrypha, 
which  they  acknowledge,  is  so  severe  upon  the 
candles.  In  the  book  of  Barach  (ch.  6)  is  the 
alleged  copy  of  a  letter  from  Jeremiah  to  the 
Captives  in  Babylon,  in  which  he  does  not  spare 


"  OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO?  331 

the  Babylonish  idolatry — satirizing  gods  that 
need  to  be  locked  up  lest  they  be  stolen  away  ; 
and  in  allusion  to  the  lights  before  them  (v.  19) 
"  They  light  them  candles,  yea,  more  than  for 
themselves,  whereof  they  cannot  see  one."  It 
is  alleged  that  the  friends  of  mediaeval  revival 
are  reproducing  this  form  of  antique  and  hea- 
then ritual.  Shall  we  not  have  some  vigorous 
Archbishop  Leighton  to  say  to  them,  "  The 
superstitious  use  of  lights  in  the  church  by  day 
is  an  affront  done  both  to  the  sun  in  the  heav- 
ens, and  to  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  in  the 
Church." 

In  Italian  churches  one  is  often  struck  by 
the  columns  on  which  legs,  arms,  heads,  hands, 
and  other  portions  of  the  human  body  are  hung 
in  waxen  representation.  He  is  informed  that 
the  healed,  through  the  intercession  of  the  saint, 
thus  honored  their  benefactor.  Here  are  the 
"  votive  offerings  "  of  heathenism,  not  even  dis- 
guised. The  witticism  of  Diagoras  derived  its 
point  from  these  tablets  and  pictures,  memo- 
rials of  deliverance.  "  Don't  you  see,"  said  his 
friend,  "  that  the  gods  take  notice  of  human 
affairs,  by  this  number  of  pictures  ;  how  many 


332  W^A  T  HA  VE  THE 

people,  for  the  sake  of  their  vows,  have  been 
saved  in  storms  at  sea,  and  got  safe  into  har- 
bor." "  I  see  how  it  is,"  he  replied  ;  "  for  those 
persons  are  never  painted  who  happened  to  be 
drowned."  To  look  on  the  motley  group  of 
representations,  more  or  less  accurate,  of  por- 
tions of  the  human  frame,  crowded  on  a  column 
in  a  church,  one  might  really  think  he  had  come 
into  one  of  the  temples  of  Esculapius,  which 
were  excessively  rich  in  these  offerings,  but  not 
richer,  we  venture  to  assert,  than  many  churches 
dedicated  to  saints,  whose  intercession  or  mira- 
cle-working power  has  been  credited  with  unu- 
sual benefit  to  the  affluent,  or  the  powerful. 
Nor  is  it  in  such  mementoes  of  mercies  received 
that  the  Christian  copies  the  heathen  temple. 
When  miserable  Hecuba  of  Troy,  suppliant,  be- 
sought the  favor  of  inexorable  Minerva,  she 
carried  to  the  image,  according  to  Homer,  her 
very  best  and  richest  dress.  And  who  does  not 
know  how  varied  and  costly  is  the  wardrobe  of 
"Our  Lady;"  how  queens,  and  even  kings, 
with  a  piety  which  might  have  taken  more  prac- 
tical forms,  have  with  their  own  hands  enriched 
the  shrines  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  other  saints 


OLD  CATHOLICS''   TO  DO? 


333 


of  Christendom  ?  All  this,  and  all  that  has  the 
like  origin,  and  produces  the  like  results,  old 
Catholicism  must  clear  away  before  ever  it 
reaches  the  altar,  touches  the  priesthood,  or 
enters  on  the  creed. 

But  these  things  abolished,  the  outworks 
only  are  carried.  On  entering  a  cathedral  in 
France  or  Italy,  one  finds  curiously  constructed 
sentry-boxes  ranged  around,  with  an  opening  in 
front  or  at  the  side,  and  facility  for  kneeling  out- 
side. Those  boxes  it  would  be  easy  to  carry  out 
of  the  edifice  as  lumber,  and  burn.  But  the  real 
difficulty  is  to  get  rid  of  that  of  which  they  are 
the  outward  and  sensible  sign.  Those  boxes 
stand  for  one  of  the  five  sacraments  which  have 
been  added  to  the  original  two  of  our  Lord's 
appointment,  and  which  the  primitive  Church 
received.  They  represent  Penance  as  a  sacra- 
ment, made  to  rest  on  the  same  authority  as 
Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  repre- 
sent also  the  obligation  to  confess  one's  faults 
to  a  priest,  irrespective  of  his  being  injured  by 
them,  and  simply  because  he  is  a  priest ;  and 
they  represent  the  belief  that  he  is  endowed 
with  power  from  on  high,  not  of  the  declarative 


334 


IVHA  T  HA  VE   THE 


sort,  which  belongs  to  all  true  preachers,  but  of 
the  executive  kind,  which  is  exclusively  divine, 
to  remit  the  sins  so  confessed  on  the  perform- 
ance of  the  penances  he  enjoins.  They  repre- 
sent the  strongest  links  in  that  chain  by  which 
the  priest  binds  the  human  conscience,  and  by 
which  sacerdotalism  fetters  a  people.  It  ib 
doubtful  if  a  confessional-box  and  an  evangeli- 
cal pulpit  could  stand  together  in  the  same  edi 
fice.  Where  the  confessional  has  received  a 
place  hitherto,  the  Gospel  has  already  taken  its 
departure.  In  vain  you  quote  the  admission  of 
Peter  Dens  that  the  number  seven  for  the  sacra- 
ments is  only  insinuated  in  Scripture,  not 
alleged.  In  vain  you  urge  that  the  Apostles  and 
Evangelists  give  no  testimony  in  favor  of  any 
of  the  five  added  in  later  times.  The  Council 
of  Trent  has  hurled  its  anathema  against  any 
one  who  shall  affirm  that  the  whole  seven  sacra- 
ments are  not  instituted  by  Christ,  and  roundly 
asserts  that  they  are  proved  from  Scripture,  the 
unbroken  traditions  of  the  Fathers,  and  the 
authoritative  declarations  of  Councils.  In  vain 
you  point  to  the  Catechism  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  with  its  allegation  that  a  true  sacrament 


"OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO? 


535 


consists  of  matter  and  form,  and,  bringing  the 
sacramentalists  to  their  own  test,  demand  the 
matter  and  form  in  their  five  additions.  In  vain 
you  require  to  be  told  where  and  when  Christ 
instituted  as  sacraments  matrimony,  extreme 
unction,  penance,  confirmation  ?  The  answer  is 
"  the  time  is  not  certain."  In  vain  you  ask  how 
do  we  know  that  He  did  appoint  them  ?  The 
reply  is — The  Church  says  so.  It  is  not  much, 
but  it  is  all  you  can  get.  In  vain  you  adduce 
undeniable  proof  that  for  a  thousand  years  the 
Church  did  not  own  seven  sacraments.  The  an- 
swer is,  "  well,  the  Church  does  so  now."  And 
if  you  quote  Cassander  to  prove  that  Peter 
Lombard  first  defined  the  number  seven — and 
that  in  the  twelfth  century — you  are  gently  re- 
minded that  the  Council  of  Trent  has  pro- 
nounced you  accursed  for  your  assertion. 

These  boxes,  and  all  that  belongs  to  them — 
all  the  assumption,  all  the  priestly  claims,  all  the 
misreading  of  history,  all  the  misinterpretation 
of  Scripture,  all  the  bold  and  baseless  assertion, 
all  the  audacious  preference  of  human  to  divine 
authority,  the  old  Catholics  have  to  overthrow. 
Councils,  Canons,  and  Fathers  have  to  be  driven 


336  Wl/A  T  II A  VE   THE 

out  of  the  temple  if  the  Saviour  is  to  be  en 
throned   there,  and   the   Father  worshipped  in 
spirit  and  in  truth. 

But  let  us  suppose  all  the  ecclesiastical  fur- 
niture we  have  described,  boldly  thrown  out  of 
the  church,  and  all  represented  by  it,  discarded, 
the  work  of  reform  has  but  begun.  We  will 
suppose  a  service  commencing,  and  consider  the 
changes  demanded  in  order  to  accommodate  it 
to  the  New  Testament  requirement.  The 
tongue  is  Latin.  No  one  has  spoken  it  as  a  liv- 
ing language  for  centuries.  It  is  maintained 
under  the  allegation  that  it  is  the  same  to  all 
Christendom.  That  statement  is  true — it  is 
equally  unintelligible  everywhere.  Let  us  get 
the  vernacular  of  each  land  and  let  men  pray 
and  praise,  as  well  as  hear  of  the  wonderful 
works  of  God,  "in  their  tongue  wherein  they 
were  born." 

Where  are  the  Bibles  ?  The  Church  of 
Rome  licenses  the  use  of  the  Bible  mainly  where 
there  are  heretics,  as  a  matter  of  prudence  and 
against  her  rule.  She  has  never  repealed  the 
decree  of  the  Synod  of  Toulouse  (1229)  prohib- 
iting the  possession  of  old  or  new  Testament  by 


"OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO?  337 

the  laity.  She  has  never  recalled  the  fourth 
rule  of  the  Index  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  which 
Pius  IV.  (1564)  confirmed,  to  the  effect  that 
"  the  reading  of  the  Bible  by  all  persons  in  gen- 
eral does  more  harm  than  good,  and  so  any  per- 
son reading  or  keeping  the  book  without  license 
shall  be  disqualified  to  receive  absolution  till  he 
delivers  it  to  the  ordinary."  Cardinal  Wiseman 
said  of  Great  Britain  :  "  But  though  the  Scrip- 
tures may  be  here  permitted,  we  do  not  urge 
them  on  our  people  ;  we  do  not  encourage  them 
to  read  them  ;  we  do  not  spread  them  to  the  ut- 
most among  them — certainly  not.'' 

It  will  be  needful  for  a  church  truly  reformed 
to  say  "■  The  word  of  God  is  not  bound." — (2 
Tim.  2  :  9.) 

As  the  service  proceeds,  one  finds  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Last  Supper  its  main  feature. 
To  "  assist  at  mass  "  is  a  synonym  for  worship 
with  a  Roman  Catholic.  But  the  bread  or 
"  host  "  is  adored  ;  for  it  is  believed  to  be  divine. 
It  has  been  changed  into  the  person  of  our  Lord. 
Says  the  Council  of  Trent :  "  It  is  one  and  the 
same  sacrifice  with  that  of  the  cross ;  for  the 
victim  is  one  and  the  same,  Christ  our  Lord.'' 
22 


338 


IVJ/A  T  HA  VE  THE 


Can  this  dogma  stand  in  a  reformed  church? 
But  the  moment  any  man  attempts  to  deny  this, 
he  comes  under  the  anathema  of  Rome.  Where 
the  service  is  made  so  much  of,  one  would  sup- 
pose the  people  would  enjoy  it  to  the  full.  But 
no;  the  cup  is  withheld  from  the  laity.  It  is 
only  communion  in  one  kind.  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas,  in  the  middle  of  the  13th  century,  ad- 
mits that  "  according  to  the  ancient  custom  of 
the  church,  all  men,  as  they  communicated  in 
the  body,  so  they  also  communicated  in  the 
blood."  And  not  till  the  Council  of  Constance 
(1414)  was  the  new  limitation  ratified.  Shall 
the  church  go  back  to  the  old  way  ?  She  must, 
if  she  reform  herself. 

There  are  surroundings  of  the  service  which 
need  to  be  altered,  if  it  is  to  accommodate  itself 
to  the  Scriptures  and  to  primitive  ways.  Shall 
we  hear  the  old  Catholics  say  with  Epiphanius 
in  the  4th  century,  "  I  entered  into  a  certain 
church  to  pray :  I  found  there  a  linen  cloth 
hanging  on  the  church  door,  painted  and  having 
on  it  the  image  of  Christ  as  it  were,  or  some 
other  saint ;  therefore,  when  T  did  see  the  image 
of  a  man  hanging  in  the  church  of  Christ,  con- 


"OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO?  339 

trary  to  the  authority  of  the  Scripture,  I  did  tear 
itr  Alas  !  for  honest  Epiphanius  !  he  had  not 
learnt  the  jargon  about  Christian  art  "  to  which 
later  ears  have  become  used.  John  Knox 
could  hardly  have  done  worse. 

So  the  place  of  the  celebrant  must  undergo 
a  change,  in  a  reformed  church.  The  "  altar  " 
implies  a  sacrifice ;  but  there  is  none ;  and  a 
priest,  but  there  is  none  rightly  there.  Will  the 
"  old  Catholics  "  say  with  Origen,  against  erect- 
ing altars,  statues  and  temples :  "  The  soul  of 
every  pious  man  is  an  altar  from  which  true  and 
spirit'ial  incense  is  sent  up — namely,  the  prayers 
offered  by  a  pure  conscience  ?  ''  And  what  shall 
we  say  of  the  prayers  of  the  reformed  church  ? 
are  they  to  be  addressed  to  angels  and  saints, 
against  Scripture,  against  Augustine,  against 
reason  ?  Is  Purgatory  to  be  recognized  with  its 
affiliated  arrangements  of  masses  for  the  dead, 
and  indulgences?  Of  such  minor  matters  as 
relics — though  their  veneration  is  enjoined  by  the 
church,  and  such  themes  as  penances,  we  shall 
not  dwell:  They  are  corollaries  from  leading 
dogmas.  But  we  must  look  in  a  rcforrhed 
church  for  the  replacing  of  Mary  as  one  of  God's 


340 


IVHA  T  HA  VE   THE 


people,  but  no  more  a  miraculously-conceived, 
and  omnipotent  hearer  of  prayer,  appealed  to 
with  innumerable  repetitions  "  Hail  Mary  full  of 
grace,"  (whereas  Christ  is  "  full  of  grace  and 
truth,")  and  described  as  "  Mother  of  God,"  and 
"  Queen  of  heaven,"  and  in  fact  constituted  a 
fourth  person  in  the  Godhead  ? 

What  is  the  Rule  of  faith  to  be?  Scrip- 
tures, or  the  Fathers,  or  the  Church  ?  How  is 
the  Pope  to  be  regarded  ?  As  head  of  the 
church,  or  as  a  usurper  of  Christ's  place  ?  Is 
subjection  to  him  to  be  held  binding  on  all  true 
Christians  ?  Are  we  to  believe  it  proved  that 
Peter  was  at  Rome  ;  that  he  was  Pope  ;  that  he 
had  a  primacy  of  jurisdiction  over  the  whole 
church  ;  that  his  powers  were  not  personal  but 
for  transmission ;  and  that  in  point  of  fact  he 
transmitted  them  to  the  popes  who  have  them 
in  a  line  of  unbroken  succession?  Are  we  to 
believe  all  this  against  the  Scripture  representa- 
tions of  the  apostolic  office,  and  of  Peter's  per- 
sonal history ;  against  the  fathers  who  have 
four  separate  interpretations  of  the  text  in 
which  Peter  is  represented  as  the  Rock?  If 
Popes  are  infallible,  Pope  Felix  III.  must  have 


''OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO?  341 

been  right  when  declaring  Peter's  confession  and 
not  Peter,  the  rock.  If  Ambrose,  Theophylact, 
and  Jerome  are  of  any  weight,  they  tell  us  that 
"  all  the  apostles  did  receive  the  keys  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  ;  "  and  if  general  councils  are  re- 
liable, that  of  Constantinople  made  Jerusalem 
the  mother  of  all  churches,  and  so  wrote  in  a 
synodical  epistle  to  Damasus,  the  Bishop  of 
Rome.  Romanism  is  a  system,  partly  political, 
partly  religious,  of  which  the  papal  claim  is  a 
vital  part.  No  reform  of  the  system  is  possible, 
that  spares  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  All 
that  falls  short  of  that  is  dealing  with  symptoms. 
The  radical  reform  must  include  the  word  of 
God  as  the  sufficient  and  authoritative  rule  of 
faith  and  life,  the  completeness  of  the  believer 
in  Christ,  on  the  ground  of  one  atonement 
which  supercedes  every  human  priest  and  sacri- 
fice ;  and  the  Headship  of  Jesus  Christ,  which 
implies  usurpation  and  blasphemy  on  the  part 
of  any  creature  claiming  to  be  head.  We  have 
by  no  means  exhausted  the  list  of  the  changes 
which  are  necessarily  implied  in  any  real  reform 
of  the  Church  of  Rome.  We  should  be  glad  to 
hope  much  from  the  "  old  Catholic  "  movement, 


342  WHA  T  HA  VE  THE 

but  we  see  no  warrant  for  any  high  expectations. 
The  old  Catholic  leaders  make  appeal  for  sym- 
pathy to  Protestants  in  one  breath,  and  in  the 
next  asseverate  their  loyalty  to  Rome,  or  to  what 
they  are  pleased  to  call  the  real  Catholic  Church. 
But  they  cannot  be  ignorant  that  their  Church 
makes  it  essential  that  Rome  be  acknowledsred 
as  mother  and  mistress  of  all  Churches,  and  that 
the  friends  whom  they  invoke  are  by  their  refusal 
to  make  this  acknowledgment,  and  accept  the 
Pope  as  the  Vicar  of  Christ  on  earth,  ruled  out 
of  the  Church  of  God.  We  might  say  truly — 
"  You  ask  our  Christian  aid,  while  by  the  solemn 
decisions  of  the  authority  you  own,  we  are  not 
even  Christians." 

Two  things  have  been  taught  in  the  word 
regarding  the  great  apostacy,  and  one  of  them  at 
least  is  illustrated  in  history.  To  a  believer  in 
Christ,  formally  within  the  system,  the  Scripture 
call  is  "  Come  out."  That  is  the  first :  the  sec- 
ond is,  that  they  who  stay  in  for  the  sake  of 
reforming  the  system,  are  sooner  or  later  over- 
borne. The  system  is  stronger  than  the  man  : 
the  corporation  puts  down  the  individual.  The 
reformation  of  antichrist  is  the  destruction  of 


"OLD  CATHOLICS"   TO  DO?  343 

antichrist.  Multitudes  of  individuals  will  be 
saved :  multitudes  we  doubt  not,  are  being 
saved  now,  in  spite  of  the  errors :  but  the 
system,  as  a  system,  is  doomed.  With  these 
convictions — we  cannot  look  on  the  reproduc- 
tion of  mediaeval  ways,  and  the  adoption  of  frag- 
ments of  Romanism,  but  with  grief  for  the  Ro- 
manisers,  and  with  anxiety  for  those  whom  they 
influence.  A  thing  is  not  necessarily  bad  be- 
cause it  is  in  the  Romish  Church,  for  she  holds 
though  she  nullifies  much  truth ;  but  anything 
she  has  made  distinctive,  and  that  is  not  in  Scrip- 
ture, is  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion.  A  small 
thing,  skilfully  applied,  will  inoculate  a  great 
body ;  and  it  will  be  a  woful  day  for  Ameri- 
can institutions,  for  the  American  churches,  for 
the  American  nation,  in  so  far  as  through  servile 
imitation  of  Europe,  through  human  pride  and 
corruption,  through  ignorance  on  the  one  hand, 
and  a  state  management  on  the  other,  Romish 
views  and  practices  acquire  ascendancy  in  the 
land. 

THE    END. 


ERRATA. 

Page     1 8.  For  De  Lelitzsch  read  Delitzsch. 

•  37.  For  finding  read  feeding. 

90.  For  Acts  read  Peter. 

121.  For  Rom.  read  Rom.   i.  25. 

169.  For  some  read  Rome  and  for  lield  read  bold 

179.  For  low  read  even. 

343.  For  a  state  read  astute. 


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